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OF 



Wayne County, Ohio, 



3/7 



CONTAINING 



Biof^rapl^ieal J^etel^es of promi^e^t a^d I^epres(^9t:atiu(^ 
Qitiz^[)S, apd of /T\ar>y of tf^i^ ^arly 
S(^t:tl(^d pamilii^s. 



ILLUSTRATED. 



CHICAGO : 

J. H. BEERS & CO. 

z' 1889. 
/ 



>A 



1 . /■ 



/ '^ 






DNTIL quite recently, but little attention has been given to the preservation of 
biography, except in so far as it pertained to the preferred classes — persons 
who had been prominent in governmental affairs, or distinguished in their pro- 
fession or calling, or in some way made conspicuous before the public. Within the 
past decade, however, there has been a growing interest in the preservation, not only 
of biography, but of family genealogy, both for its immediate worth and for its 
value to coming generations. 

The expediency of placing in hook form biographical history and genealogy of 
the representative public is beyond question; and when the difficulties experienced 
in a majority of cases, by the biographical historian, in procuring ancestral history are 
considered, the intelligent reasoner will be convinced of the necessity of preserving 
family records in permanent form. 

That the representative public is entitled to the privileges afforded by a work of 
this kiiul needs no assertion at our hands, for one of our greatest Americans has said 
that the history of any country resolves itself into the biographies of its stout, earnest 
and representative citizens. This medium then serves more than a single purpose; 
w hile it perpetuates biography and family genealogy, it records history, much of 
which would be preserved in no other way. 

In presenting this volume to its patrons the publishers acknowledge with gratitude 
tlie encouragement and support their enterprise has received, and the willing assist- 
ance rendered in the surmounting of the many unforeseen obstacles to be met with 
in the preparation of a work of this character. In nearly every instance the material 
composing the sketches has been gathered from those immediateh^ interested, and 
then submitted in type-written form for their correction and revision. 

Trusting that the work may prove satisfactory to the citizens of the county, it is 
submitted to their considerate judgment. 

THE PUBLISHERS. 




mmfBB 



L^^i^^is^^J 




BIOGRAPHICAL. 




'RICK, JACOB, oue of 
the best known and 
most enterprising bus- 
iness men of AVooster, 
Ohio, was born on 
his father's farm, 
four miles southeast 
of West Newton, South Hunt- 
ingdon Township, Westmore- 
land Co., Penn., September 
17, 1834. Daniel Frick, his 
father, married Catherine 
Miller, to whom were born six sons and 
three daughters, of whom the subject of 
this sketch was next to the youngest. He 
descends from the sturdy German stock. 
His forefathers belonged to the early nobil- 
ity of Switzerland. The ancestors from 
whom he sprung came to this country in 
the early part of the seventeenth century. 
He was reared on his father's farm. 



and assisted at times in blacksmithing, 
which trade his father plied when not en- 
gaged in farm duties. Here he remained 
until he was eighteen years of age, when 
he began to strike out for himself, work- 
ing one year and a half on another farm, 
and six months in a flouring-mill, re- 
ceiving for his services $210 for the two 
years, and saving out of this small earn- 
ing the large sum of $175 after keeping 
himself in clothes, etc. The economy 
he jjracticed during this time proved to 
be later on a very good lesson. He re- 
ceived just what education could be had 
from attending a district school in a log 
school-house five or six months in a year. 
He had a fondness for figures, and soon 
became remarkable for his arithmetical 
computations. This one talent has been 
of great benefit to him in business. 

In 1855 he came with his father to 



12 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



Hancock County, Ohio. He was married 
in November, 1856, to Mrs. Elizabeth 
Frick, widow of a cousin, and daughter 
of Jacob Shelly, of Wayne County, Ohio. 
There were born to them five daughters 
and two sous. In 1859 he moved to 
Wayne County, and has since been iden- 
tified with its interests and progress. He 
engaged in the grain, seed and wool busi- 
ness in 1862, which business he pushed 
with his characteristic energy up to 1882, 
about twenty years, doing a business of 
from 8200,000 to §400,000 a year. These 
operations were a success financially, 
chiefly because he was able at all times to 
sell large quantities of produce to Eastern 
parties at full market value, by always 
being prompt in shipping and delivering 
everything just as contracted, at the 
same time benefiting the farmer from 
whom he made his purchases. The mar- 
gin in trade was small, but it was the 
volume of the business which made it 
jn-ofitable. The banking business, in 
which he engaged in 1880. was now tak- 
insr so much of his time that he deemed 
it necessary to be relieved in a measure, 
and therefore took W. D. Tyler as part- 
ner in the grain business, which has since 
been run in the name of Jacob Frick & 
Co. From 1874 to 1887 he was an equal 
partner with J. S. K. Overholt in the City 
Mills. Soon after the death of E. Quiuby, 
Jr., in the spring of 1880, he with several 



others purchased the Wayne County 
National Bank, of Wooster, of which in- 
stitution he was made president, which 
position he still fills. Under his manage- 
ment the bank has increased its capital 
stock §55,000, and it still possesses the 
entire confidence and trust of the com- 
munity. 

Among other interests, he owns in 
Wooster 120 feet fronting on the north 
side of West Liberty Street, adjoining tlie 
court-house. Part of this ground is cov- 
ered by an elegant stone and bi'ick struct- 
ure, fronting sixty feet, wliich he erected 
in 1886. The rest of the square contains 
a fine brick and iron building. These 
together form the finest business blocks 
in the city of Wooster. He also owns a 
large warehouse on South Street, a busi- 
ness room on East Liberty Street, his 
residence on North Market Street, a num- 
ber of other improved lots in the city, 
and twenty-five acres of valuable land 
within the corporate limits, besides sev- 
eral farms in Wayne County and lands in 
Western States. With his numerous 
branches of business he still finds time to 
devote to buying, selling and improving 
real estate. He was the owner of the 
Buckeye Mills, of Canton, Ohio, for three 
years, is the owner of a grain elevator in 
Ashland, Ohio, and is one of two equal 
partners in its operations. 

Nature has endowed him with a large 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



13 



share of caution, which has proved o£ 
great value to him iu his various transac- 
tions. It has ever been his aim to deal 
fairly with his fellow-men. He has thus 
been able to enjoy a very large share of 
patronage in his several departments of 
business. In his religious views he is 
very liberal, but feeling that a better work 
can be done for the Master by being 
identified with a religious denomination, 
he united with the English Lutheran 
Church of Wooster in 1869. He has 
contributed largely to its prosperity by 
giving much of his time and means. 
When the church edifice and a fine chapel 
were building, he it was who bore a great 
part of the bm-den, financially. He is 
ever ready to respond liberally when solic- 
ited to help in every good cause. Many 
churches as well as institutions of learn- 
ing have reason to be thankful for his 
liberality. 

In November of 1885 he was called 
to mourn the loss of his dearest friend in 
the death of his wife, who was his con- 
stant companion and helper during all 
these busy years. He married, again, in 
May of 1887, Miss Sara E. Eutter, of 
Massillon, a teacher in the public schools 
of that city. They were united in mar- 
riage at Massillon, by Dr. Bailey, a Pres- 
byterian divine, assisted by Kev. G. M. 
Heindel, of the English Lutheran Church 
of Wooster. This second union has been 



blessed with one daughter. In his do- 
mestic relations he is supremely happy, 
and his home is all that love and wealth 
and culture and refinement can possibly 
make it. 



f OHN WHITMAN is a son of Chris- 
k. I tian and Mary (Manning) Whitman, 
^^ and was born May 5, 1843, in Chip- 
pewa Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. 
George Whitman, the grandfather of 
John Whitman, and a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, came to Wayne County in 1827, 
and settled in Chippewa Township, and 
here he passed the rest of his life. 

Christian Whitman, the father, was born 
in Pennsylvania, and came to Wayne 
County with his parents; then, after his 
marriage with Mary Manning, located on 
a farm adjoining his father, and remained 
there until 1886, when he retired from 
the pursuits of the farm, and now lives at 
Doylestown, Chippewa Township. He 
reared nine children (eight of whom are 
now living), viz.: George, in Doylestown, 
Ohio; John, our subject; Catherine, wife 
of Henry Gardner, in Chippewa Town- 
ship; Mary C, deceased; William, in 
Chippewa Township; Franklin, in Doyles- 
town, Ohio; Levi, in Chippewa Town- 
ship; Elizabeth, wife of John Deible, 



14 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



in Chippewa Township, and Benjamin, 
on the homestead. The subject of 
this sketch attended the township schools, 
has followed the occupation of a farmer, 
and has always lived in Wayne County, 
with the exception of two years spent in 
Missouri. In 1882 he purchased his 
present farm of 160 acres in Milton 
Township. In 1863 Mr. Whitman mar- 
ried Miss Catherine, daughter of Joseph 
Eberhart, of Milton Township, Wayne 
County, and by this union there are seven 
children, as follows: Joseph, Mary C, 
Sarah, Angeline, Clara, Charles and 
Alfred. Mr. Whitman has always been 
an active Democrat, and has served as 
school director, sujservisor, etc. In 1883 
he was elected justice of the peace, which 
office he now fills. He and his family 
are members of the Catholic Church of 
Dovlestown. 



E 



LI ZAKING, the present efficient 
and well-known clerk of common 

' pleas of Wayne County, and one 
who by his own unaided efforts and unabat- 
ing pluck has gradually but surely risen in 
the ranks of men, was born in Plain 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, January 16, 
1836. In 1832 his parents, Peter and 
Matilda Zaring, came to Wayne County 



(being then unmarried), and have here 
since made their home and reared their 
family. Eli, whose name heads this 
sketch, first saw the light of day upon a 
farm. His early life was not the idle, 
careless one enjoyed by most of the youths 
of this day, but, being the son of a poor 
shoemaker, who had a large family to 
support, he was early put to the treadmill 
of toil to earn his own sustenance, and 
soon had mastered the intricacies of his 
father's trade, at which he labored for 
years. He made, however, a diligent use 
of his educational opportunities, and at 
eighteen he was enabled to teach school, 
in which employment he spent four winters, 
thus accumulating sufficient money to 
enable him to attend for a time the 
academy at Hayesville, Ohio. August 
20, 1857, Mr. Zaring was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Mary Stevic, a native of 
Pennsylvania, but who was brought when 
a child to Wayne County. To this union 
six children have been born, as follows: 
Ida F. (deceased); James (principal of 
the Smithville public schools) ; Charles, 
Cora, Dora (a recent graduate of Wooster 
High School) and Daniel, at home. 

Mr. Zaring has represented the Demo- 
cratic party in various offices, having 
been for two terms township clerk in a 
Republican township; was at one time as- 
sessor, ajid assisted in appraising the land 
in Chester Township, Wayne County. In 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



15 



the fall of 1886 he was elected clerk of 
the courts of Wayne County, which posi- 
tion he is now satisfactorily filling. Pre- 
vious to his coming into the county clerk- 
ship, Mr. Zariug for two and a half years 
acted as clerk and book-keeper in the office 
of the Wayne Couniy Democrat. His life 
has been an earnest one, and an unremit- 
ting fight against bitter and adverse cir- 
cumstances, but his progress has been 
gradually upward, and he is to-day a man 
of whom all speak highly. 



FETEE FEANKS, son of Jacob 
Franks, was born in Fayette Coun- 
ty, Penn., May 21, 1797. His 
great-grandfather, Michael Franks, 
emigrated from Eilsen, Germany, with 
his wife and four children, Jacob, Mi- 
chael, Catherine and Henry (the last of 
whom died on the voyage), and settled in 
Fayette County, Penn., after a brief resi- 
dence in Baltimore, Md. They are all 
now deceased. Michael Franks, with 
other trustees, took up a tract of 145 acres 
of land, which they presented to the 
church of which he was a member, and it 
is still owned and used for church pur- 
poses. The trustees were Everly, Ballin- 
ger. Mason, and Michael Franks, to whom 
it is proposed to erect a monument, and 



toward which Peter Franks has volunta- 
rily offered to make a very liberal gift. 
Jacob, son of Michael and grandfather of 
Peter, married Barbara Braudenberg, and 
lived and died in Pennsylvania. Their 
children were George, Jacob, Elizabeth, 
Catherine, Michael, Conrad and Sarah, all 
now deceased. Jacob, father of the sub- 
ject of this memoir, was born in Pennsyl- 
vania, and married Sarah Livingood, of 
Fayette County, Penn., where they lived 
and died. Their children were Eliza- 
beth, Christina, Jonathan, Sarah, Peter, 
Eeason, Catherine, Solomon and Nancy, 
all now deceased except Peter. Several 
of the family lived to extreme old age, 
one dying when ninety-six years old, 
another when past ninety-two, and Peter 
is now ninety-two. Peter married Julia 
Ann Fletcher, of Fayette County, Penn., 
in 1819, and located on the farm he now 
owns, in Salt Creek Township, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, in 1820, in which year he took up 
the land from the Government and paid 
the first tax. (He came there, however, 
in 181(5.) Their children were William 
(deceased), Sarah (deceased), Naomi, 
Jacob, Mauoah, Thomas F., Samautha, 
Solomon and Lemuel (deceased). 

Mr. Franks came here when the country 
was in a wilderness, took up 170^ acres of 
land, and assisted at the raising of a barn 
in 1816, he being the only one now liv- 
ing who was present at that time. He 



16 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



has been trustee of his township, assessor 
for a period of eight years, and has the 
respect and confidence of the community 
where he resides. Mrs. Franks died May 
7, 1871. She was a member of the Meth- 
odist Church. Politically Mr. Franks is 
a Democrat. 



/r^ USTAVUS C. FEITZ, son of Will- 
I 1/ iam and Louisa (GraA'e) Fritz, 
^^ natives of Prussia, was born March 
8, 1855, at Millersburg, Holmes 
Co., Ohio. His parents immigrated to 
America in 1854, arriving December 22, 
and first located in Millersburg, Ohio. 
William Fritz was a surgeon by profes- 
sion, which he followed throughout life. 
After spending about one year at Millers- 
burg, the family removed to Zanesville, 
Ohio, and afterward to Dresden, where 
they remained until 1861, in which year 
they came to Wayne County, locating at 
Moorland, where the father died in 1865. 
The mother is now living with her son, 
Gustavus C. Their family consisted of 
five children, as follows: Louisa, wife of 
Thomas Finlay, of Stark County, Ohio; 
Gustavus C, William and Lewis, at home, 
and Adolph, in Moorland, Ohio, who mar- 
ried Martha, daughter of Michael and 
Julia Franks, of Franklin Township, 



Wayne Co., Ohio, and has two chil- 
dren, Amanda and Charles. The subject 
of this memoir received his education at 
the township schools and the Smithville 
Academy, and early engaged in teaching, 
a profession he has since followed, hav- 
ing taught at Nonpariel, Moorland and 
several of the township schools. 

Mr. Fritz, like his father, is a strong sup- 
porter of the Democratic party. In 1880 
he was elected clerk of Franklin Town- 
ship, Wayne County, and has since held 
that office. He is a member of Garfield 
Lodge, No. 528, F. & A. M., of Shreve, 
Ohio. At the present writing (1889) 
Mr. Fritz is unmarried, and remains at 
the old home with his mother and brother. 



df AMES F. CKISWELL, son of James 
and Elizabeth Criswell, was born on 
^— the farm he now owns, in Salt Creek 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, January 3, 
1825. His paternal grandfather was a res- 
ident of Mifilin County, Penn., where he 
married and died, leaving a family of four 
children: John, Eobert, Sarah and James. 
His grandfather, Robert Forgey, came 
from Ireland, settled in Mifflin County, 
Penn., married and reared a family con- 
sisting of James, Robert, John, Mai-y, Will- 
iam, David, Jane and Elizabeth, all now 



deceased bnt Kobert aud Mary, the for- 
mer being a resident of Mifflin County, 
Penu., and the latter of Monmouth, 111. 
James, father of James F., was born in 
Pennsylvania, where he married ; removed 
to Ohio in 1824, settled on the place now 
owned by his son, James F., where he 
engaged in farming, and where both he 
and his wife passed away. He was offi- 
cially identified with his township as 
trustee ; was treasurer for many years, aud 
was recognized as one of its progressive 
citizens. His children were Isabel, Jane, 
Elizabeth, William, James F., Maria, 
Eobert, Margaret, Martha and Ann. Of 
these, Jane was the late Mrs. Austin 
Brothers, of Wayne County, Ohio; Eliza- 
beth was the late Mrs. Elijah Tracy, of 
Illinois; Isabel was the late Mrs. Isaac 
Johnson, of Wayne County, Ohio; Will- 
iam is married, and a resident of Holmes 
County, Ohio; Maria was the late Mrs. 
William Harrison, of Franklin Township, 
Wayne County ; Kobert is married, and is 
a resident of Lake County, Ohio; Mar- 
garet married Steven Haly, and removed 
to Fulton County, Ohio, where she died; 
Martha married Alfred Calhoun, and is 
now a resident of Holmes County, Ohio; 
Ann married Speuce Fouty, and is now a 
resident of Fulton County, Ohio; James 
F. was married August 29, 1850, to Eliz- 
abeth Scott, who was born May 1, 1832, 
a daughter of James Scott, of Franklin 



Township, Wayne County, and settled on 
the farm he now owns in Salt Creek Town- 
ship. To them were born six children: 
Emma, Martin, Ellsworth, Flora, Lennie 
and Edwin. Of these, Emma married 
David Snyder, and is a resident of Holmes 
County; Martin married Nettie Fluhart, 
and is a resident of Salt Creek Township, 
Wayne County; the others are still with 
their parents. 

James F. Criswell is one of the ex- 
tensive land-owners of Wayne County, 
having 411 acres in a body, including the 
old homestead, and also 106 acres in 
Holmes County. He has been officially 
identified with the township in various 
ways, and is a member of the Democratic 
party. Both he aud his wife are members 
of the Congregational Church. 



1( SAAC A. MUNSON, son of Henry aud 
Mary (Cutter) Munsou, was born 
-^ September 19, 1823, in Franklin 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. Isaac 
Munsou, the grandfather of Isaac A., was 
born in Connecticut, and located in New 
York State. In 1815 he and his son, 
Henry, moved to Wayne County, Ohio, 
and first located in the southern part 
thereof, or what is now Holmes County. 
After remaining there a short time lie 



18 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



purchased the farm which is now owned 
by his grandson, Henrj-, where he lived 
until his death, in 1830. He was a Rev- 
olutionary soldier, and an active Demo- 
crat in politics. His sou, Henry, the 
father of Isaac A., was boru in Connecti- 
cut iu 1797, and came to Wayne County, 
Ohio, with his father, iu 1815. He was 
reared a farmer, and always remained on 
the homestead, except about five years' 
residence in Shreve. He took quite an 
active part iu the affairs of his township. 
He died in 1868; his widow iu 1871 
Henry and Mary Munson reared seven 
childi'en, three of whom are still living, 
viz. : Samuel, iu Medina County, Ohio, 
and Isaac A. and Henrj-, on the old 
homestead, in Franklin Township. 

The subject of this sketch attended the 
common schools of his township, and has 
always been engaged in farming. He 
was married, in 1848, to Miss Eliza Ann 
Lowe, daughter of Jacob Lowe, a native 
of New Jersey, and a settler in Holmes 
County, Ohio. She died in 1853, leaving 
two children, one of whom is now de- 
ceased. The other, Mary E., is the wife 
of Samuel Gisseuger, of Holmes County, 
and by him has three children: Iva, 
Harry and Emma. Our subject married 
for his second wife, in 1856, Miss Susanna 
Thomas, daughter of Lewis Thomas, of 
Wooster, Ohio, and by this union there 
is one child, Charles, who lives at home. 



Mr. Munson moved to his present farm, 
in Franklin Township, in 1848, and has 
made it one of the best improved in the 
township. Politically, he is a Democrat. 



dfOHN E. STONE was boru in JefPer- 
son County, Ohio, December 1, 1835, 
"-' and is a sou of William and Ann 
(Elliott) Stone, natives of that county. 
They both died when John E. was quite 
young, and consequently the latter ob- 
tained but a limited education, beine 
thrown upon his own resources to gain a 
livelihood. He worked at the carpenter's 
trade for several years, and then turned 
his attention to farming, which occupation 
he has since followed, having purchased 
his i^resent farm in Milton Township, 
Wayne County, in 1868. In 1860 Mr. 
Stone married Miss Mary, daughter of 
Isaac Sellers, of Jefferson County, Ohio, 
and she died December 4, 1871, leaving 
four children: Alfred P., in Minneapolis, 
Minn. ; Everett, a farmer of Milton Town- 
ship, Wayne County, married to Flora, 
daughter of Jacob Amstutz; Edgar E., 
a law student at Ann Arbor, Mich., and 
Jessie V., at home. January 1, 1874, Mr. 
Stone married Sarah J., daughter of Jo- 
seph Robb, of Lafayette Township, Me- 
dina Co., Ohio. By this union there 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



19 



are no chiklreu. In 186-i Mr. Stone en- 
listed in Company E, One Hundred and 
Fifty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
and served 100 days. He was also a 
member of the Home Guards for several 
years. 

He has served the township well as 
school director for many years, and has 
been president of the board, and has also 
been township trustee. In 1887 he was 
elected to his present position of justice 
of the peace. He is an elder in the Cres- 
ton Presbyterian Church. In politics he 
is a Democrat, with Prohibition pro- 
clivities. 



1l 1l P. GEAVATT, of the firm of H. 

rpl p. Gravatt & Co., editors and pub- 
Jj ~ lishers of the Wayne Coimty 
Democrat, was born in Lexington, 
Highland Co., Ohio, in the year 1842. 
His father, Peter R. Gravatt, a teacher by 
profession, was a native of New Jersey, 
and died at Dayton, Ohio, in 18-19. In 
July, 1853, H. P. Gravatt became an ap- 
prentice in a printing office at Dayton, 
Ohio, and he has ever since followed in 
the footsteps of Guttenberg. His educa- 
tion has been the practical one that con- 
tact with the business men of the world 
and close application to his chosen work 



have given him. In 1870 Mr. Gravatt 
was united in marriage with Miss Nellie 
C. Moore, born in Zanesville, Ohio, and a 
daughter of Cornelius Moore, who for 
many years was publisher of the Masonic 
Bevietv of Cincinnati. To this union 
eight children have been born, four of 
whom have passed to the silent majority. 
From 1872 to 1881 Mr. Gravatt filled the 
position of editorial manager of the Odd 
Fclloivs'' Cniupanion, published at Colum- 
bus, Ohio, it being then an eighty-page 
monthly. In 1880, at the May session of 
the Grand Lodge, he was installed grand 
master of Odd Fellows, and presided at 
the session at Youngstowu in 1881. In 
1875 he was appointed historiographer, 
and wrote the history of the first ten 
years of Odd Fellowship in Ohio, which 
was published in the proceedings of 1878. 
In 1873 he wrote the first Knights of 
Pythias manual ever published, and from 
1872 to 1881, while in this work, he re- 
sided at Columbus. In 1809 he became 
a member of the I. O. O. F., and for four 
years was their representative at the 
Grand Lodge, and also historiographer 
and grand master; also is a member of 
Blue Lodge Masons and of the Knights 
of Pythias. In July, 1881, Mr. Gravatt 
purchased of Mr. E. B. Eshelman his 
half interest in the Wayne County Demo- 
crat, Mr. Eshelman withdrawing, but in 
1886 returning to the partnership by pur- 



20 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



chasing the fourth interest belonging to 
the late Dr. L. Firestone. 




BRAHAM LANCE is a son of 
John and Sarah (Johnson) Lance, 
natives of Jefferson County, Ohio, 

who came to Wayne County in 1820, 
and purchased a farm in Milton Town- 
ship, where they resided until their deaths. 
The grandfather of Abraham, Christopher 
Lance, was a native of Germany, who 
came to this country prior to the Revo- 
lutionary War, and participated in that 
memorable struggle. John Lance was a 
prominent man in his day, and was a sup- 
porter of the old Democratic principles. 
He was an honored member of the Pres. 
byterian Church. He died in 1852, and 
his widow survived him about twenty 
years. They had a family of eleven 
children, Abraham, the subject of tliis 
sketch, and John, of Medina County, 
Ohio, being the only ones now living. 
Abraham Lance, whose name heads this 
notice, was born in Jefferson County, 
Ohio, August 25, 1813. His education 
was obtained in the old-fashioned log 
school-houses, which he was privileged to 
attend only when his services were not 
required on the farm. He has spent his 
life at farming, and in 1838 bought the 
farm in Milton Township where he now 



lives, which contains 166 acres of well- 
improved land. That same year he mar- 
ried Miss Sarah Lance, daughter of 
James Lance. She died in 1886. To 
them were born seven children, four of 
whom are living: Peter, of Medina Coun- 
ty, married Adeline Hollowell, and has 
five children — Azilpha Ann, Mary L., 
Cora L., Andrew J. and Charles P.; 
James A., of Milton Township, married 
Lydia E. Hollowell, and has ten children 
— Mary E., Martha A., James H., Henry 
H., Rosa A., Franklin P., Ethel R., Elvie 
C, Lydia L. and Weston; Sarah, wife of 
Edward Shook, of Medina Countj', has 
seven children— Henry A., Franklin W., 
Arthur L., William E., Rosa C, Pearl 
and Rebecca; and Elizabeth J., wife of 
Edgar Steele, of Milton Township, has 
five children — Wilson, Arthur, Mary, 
William and Floyd. Mr. Lance married 
again in 1888, his present wife being 
formerly Mrs. Elizabeth J. Moore. He is 
a Democrat in his political views, and in 
religion is a prominent member of the 
Presbvterian Church. 



JAMES M. PALMER, M. D., was 
born in Akron, Ohio, June 5, 1839 
son of Samuel and Elisabeth (En- 
glish) Palmer. The subject of this 
memoir was reared in Akron, Ohio, in 



TF.-11'.V£' COUNTY. 



21 



which place he received his early educa- 
tion in the public schools until 1853, 
when he moved with his parents to Kent, 
Ohio, where he attended the Franklin 
Seminary, pursuing the study of Latin 
and the higher mathematics. In 1857 he 
graduated from Folsom's Commercial 
Cellege of Cleveland, Ohio. In 1S50 he 
came to Dalton, Wayne Co., Ohio, and 
took charge of the union schools, a posi- 
tion he held for four years, until he re- 
signed in the latter part of 1863, when 
he moved to the city of Cleveland, Ohio, 
where he engaged in mercantile pursuits 
for a year. In 186-4 he was appointed 
superintendent of the Orville, Ohio, pub- 
lic schools, in which capacity he served 
four years. During this time he read 
medicine with the late Dr. A. C. Miller, 
and attended his first course of lectures 
in the medical department of Wooster 
University, at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1866- 
67. He then entered the medical depart- 
ment of the University of the City of New 
York, from which he graduated in 1869, 
and immediately located at Dalton, Ohio, 
where he has since successfully practiced 
his profession. Dr. Palmer has served 
for three consecutive terms (nine years) 
on the Dalton Board of Education. 

In 1861 he was united in marriage with 
Mary Elisabeth, daughter of John and 
Priscilla Wertz, of Dalton, Wayne Coun- 
ty, and to this union have been born five 



children, all of whom are dead except 
Blanche, a beautiful and accomplished 
young lady, for two years in attendance 
at the high school of Steubeuville and 
Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduating from 
the Dalton High School in the class of 
1889. The Doctor and his family are 
members of the Dalton United Presby- 
terian Church. He has been a member 
of the Ebenezer Lodge No. 38, F. & A. 
M., of Wooster, for more than twenty - 
five years, and has always been an ardent 
supporter of the Republican party. 




(ILLIAM SCOTT, a son of James 
and Susan Scott, was boru in 
Franklin Township, Wayne 
Co., Ohio, in 1837. His grandfather, 
Matthew Scott, a native of Ireland, came 
to America with his parents when he was 
a child of twelve years. The family lo- 
cated in Lancaster County, Penn., where 
they remained some time, and where Mat- 
thew married. He then removed to Co- 
lumbiana County, Ohio, where his wife 
died, leaving him with a young family of 
five children: William, Ilobert, James, 
Elizabeth and Mary, Robert, who is now 
eighty-six years old, being the only sur- 
vivor. He afterward came to Salt Creek 
Township, Wayne County, where he mar- 



22 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



ried Lusiuda Beviugton, aud by her had 
nine children, viz. : Reason, Nancy, Mat- 
thew (deceased), Thomas, Henry, John 
(deceased), Seth, Catherine aud "Wesley 
(deceased). James Scott was born in 
Pennsylvania in 1807, came with his par- 
ents to Ohio, where he was educated, and 
married Susan Bechtle. He then located 
on the old homestead, but removed to 
Franklin Township, where he remained 
until 1868, in which year he came toWoos- 
ter, where he died; his widow has her 
home now with her son Robert, in Frank- 
lin Township. Their children were Rob- 
ert, Elizabeth, Charlotte, AVilliam, David 
(deceased), James Martin. Of these, Rob- 
ert is in Franklin Township, Wayne 
County ; Elizabeth is Mrs. James F. Cris- 
well, of Salt Creek Township, Wayne 
County; Charlotte is now the widow of 
William McCormick, of Fredricksburgh, 
Wayne County ; James Martin is in Frank- 
lin Township, Wayne County. 

William, subject of this biography, was 
born January 12, 1837, in Franklin Town- 
ship, on the place now owned by J. M. 
Scott, and in 1862 married Chai-ity Cutter. 
They then settled on the old Matthew Scott 
farm, which William Scott now owns, 
aud here their two children were born, 
viz. : James C, who is married aud lives 
on the homestead, and Laura Etta, now 
the wife of Adolph Gabriel, of Salt Creek 
Township, Wayne County. Mrs. Scott 



died March 29, 1869, and in 1872 Mr. 
Scott married Mary L. Burbridge, and 
they remained on the old farm uutil 1888, 
when he purchased the farm formerly 
owned by P. Appleman, aud which our 
subject still occupies. Mr. Scott has by 
his second wife four children: Burton R., 
Elmer A., Victor H. and Hershel L., all 
at home. Mr. aud Mrs. Scott are mem- 
bers of the Methodist Church. Politically 
he is a Democrat. 



PjROF. PHILIP C. PALMER, prin- 
cipal of the Northern Ohio Normal 
School, at Smith ville, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, was born at Bolivar, Tus- 
carawas Co., Ohio, November 21, 1851. 
His father, Jacob Palmer, was a native of 
Westmoreland County, Penu., boru in 
May, 1828. His mother was Barbara 
Ann Schue, also a native of Pennsylvania, 
born in December, 1828. Both were of 
German ancestry. The father was brought 
to this State when three years old; was 
brought up ou the farm near Bolivar, 
Tuscarawas County, lived in that vicinity 
all of his lifetime, aud was always a 
farmer. He was of a retiring disposition, 
was a good citizen, and rarely held any 
public position. He was married in 1849 
to Barbara Ann Schue. who had also 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



23 



accompanied lier parents iu their immi- 
gration to Oliio. He died iu Tuscarawas 
County March 4, 1885. His widow lives 
at Bolivar, that countj% with her two daugh- 
ters, Sarah M. and Lucy A. The only 
other member of the family is Philip C. 

Philip C. Palmer attended the dis- 
trict school until he was seventeen years 
of age, when he engaged in teaching. 
The following spring he attended Mount 
Union College, in Stark County, Ohio, 
teaching the ensuing winter. This rou- 
tine he followed for several years,, attend- 
ing various academies, finishing his 
education at Mansfield, Ohio, where he 
graduated in 1881. Shortly after leaving 
college he organized the Eastern Ohio 
Normal School, at Sparta, Stark County, 
Ohio, which he successfully conducted 
for three years. Not having such facili- 
ties as he desired at Sparta, he removed 
his school to the fine school building 
erected some years before by the citizens 
of Smithville, who subscribed to its stock 
in order to have a first-class institution in 
their place. Prof. Palmer had the school 
incorporated in November, 1885, the fol- 
lowing being its board of incorporators: 
President, P. C. Palmer; vice-president, 
T. A. Krysher; secretary, E. P. Willa- 
man; treasurer, H. S. Thomas; trustees, 
P. S. Greenamyer, M. D., J. W. Buchan- 
an, M. D., John E. Zimmerman, Kev. S. 
P. Keiffer, H. E. Baker and E. D. Hart- 



man, all residents of Smithville, except 
Mr. Hartman, who lives in Wooster. 
Since establishing himself here Prof. 
Palmer has been successful. He conducts 
an excellent institution, with a complete 
corps of teachers, and aims to give his 
pupils an education that will fit them for 
the practical duties of life. The school 
is not connected with any church, society 
or jiarty, and makes no attempt to further 
any special interests, relying for success 
wholly upon the work done by its teach- 
ers, who devote their entire time to its 
interests. Its success is thus assured, as 
good work must necessarily be the result. 
This school, prior to passing under the 
control of Prof. Palmer, had a somewhat 
checkered career. Its starting point was 
in a school established by James B. Tay- 
lor, now an attorney in Wooster, in Octo- 
ber, 1861. He opened the school in the 
Presbyterian church, familiarly known as 
the old synagogue. This he carried on 
until August, 1862, when the fires of 
patriotism burned out cold calculation, 
and most of the male pupils, and their 
principal as well, enlisted in the Union 
army, abandoning the school, and Mr. 
Taylor became captain of Company H, 
Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in 
which most of his boys enlisted. The 
school was shortly after reopened by Prof. 
J. B. Ebei'ly, who had been a pu[)il of 
Mr. Taylor, and who carried it on iu the 



24 



WAVXE COUNTY. 



same place for some time. Meantime the 
citizens of Smithville, desiring to have a 
normal school in the town, subscribed 
liberally to the stock of a company to 
build a fine edifice, where a high class 
school was to be conducted by Prof. 
Eberly. The present building was the 
result, and here Mr. Eberly carried ou a 
school until a few months befoi'e Prof. 
Palmer took it in hand. The school was 
not a financial success, however, and it 
became involved in debt, and it passed 
under the control of the Western Eeserve 
Annual Conference of the United Breth- 
ren Church, who were to pay its indebt- 
edness. This they failed to do, and the 
property was sold for its debts and bought 
by Mr. E. D. Hartmau, of Wooster, its 
present owner. It is expected that under 
the efficient management of Prof. Palmer 
the present era of prosperity will be per- 
manent. 

Prof. Philip C. Palmer was married 
November 6, 1879, in his native county, 
to Miss Josie Schidler, born in Stark 
County, Ohio, August 20, 1858. Her 
parents were Elias and Sarah Ann (Ebi) 
Schidler, both now deceased. The former 
died in 1869, aged thirty-seven, and the 
latter iu 1873, at the age of forty-eight. 
Prof. Palmer and wife have one child, 
Eay Emerson, born March 14, 1886. In 
politics Prof. Palmer, is a member of the 
Prohibition party, and socially is a mem- 



ber of the order of the Knights of Mac- 
cabees. Since making his home in Smith- 
ville Prof Palmer has made many fi-iends, 
and is deservedly popular. His neighbors 
who know him best speak in terms of high 
praise of his character as an honest, trust- 
worthy, Christian gentleman, who has 
the esteem of every one who knows him. 



El A. BROWN was born six miles 
east of the city of Wooster, Ohio, 

' May 7, 1827. His parents, who 

were of German descent, came to Wayne 
County in 1814, and settled upon a farm. 
His father married Jane Boyd, who bore 
him ten children, of whom five still live, 
none, save our subject, being now in 
Wayne County. In June, 1867, the 
mother was called from earth, the father 
following her to the grave in 1873. He 
was a man of considerable influence in 
his township, for fifteen years holding the 
position of justice of the peace, and was 
always a strong Democrat. E. A. Brown 
spent his boyhood years upon the farm, 
and had the limited school advantages 
found iu the old log school-house of the 
neighborhood. He resided upon his 
father's farm until January 18, 1849, 
when he was united iu marriage with Miss 
Jane Hunter, daughter of David Hunter, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



25 



who lived on a ueigbboriDg farm. By 
this union eight children were born, as 
follows: Mrs. Esther Ann Wynn, of 
Cleveland, Ohio; Mrs. Mary J. Mackey, 
of Apple Creek; Mrs. Ellen C. Baker, 
deceased; John H., a clerk in the C. C. 
C. & I. K. E. freight office, at Cleveland 
Ohio; David W., in Canton, Ohio; 
Charles Lee, in Cleveland, Ohio; Laura 
Bell, who married a Mr. Peppard, and 
died at Mount Vernon, Ohio; Minnie, 
youngest daughter, at home. Mr. Brown, 
after his marriage, became a teacher, and 
continued in that profession for five win- 
ters, laboring on the farm in the summer. 
In 1856 he was appointed freight and 
ticket agent at Apple Creek, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, where he remained for some ten 
years; then resigned and came to Woos- 
ter, Ohio, where he has since made his 
home. He was appointed covirt consta- 
ble and bailiff in Wayne County Common 
Pleas Court, and for four years had 
charge of the high school building of 
Wooster, after which he again served as 
court constable under Sheriff Coulter, 
and also under Sheriffs Messmore and 
Mongey. In the spring of 1888 he re- 
ceived the nomination on the Democratic 
ticket for county sheriff, and in the fall 
was elected by 711 majority, the largest 
majority that was ever given to any sher- 
iff. Mr. Brown is well known and 
respected. He is a member of the 



Knights of Pythias and Improved Order 
of Bed Men; a member of the First 
Presbyterian Church of Wooster. 



OLOMON H. JOHNSON was born 
in that part of Eichland County 
(Vermillion Township) which is 
now Ashland County, Ohio, April 12, 1829, 
and is a son of John E. and Sarah (Har- 
mon) Johnson, the former a native of 
New Jersey, the latter of Pennsylvania. 
Other members of their family are Will- 
iam E. Johnson, in Canaan Township, 
Wayne County; Thomas Henry, in Medina 
County; John E., in Clay City, Ind., and 
Abraham, in Gratiot County, Mich. Our 
subject was reared on the homestead farm, 
receiving but a limited education, means 
being slender. He remained at home 
until the age of eighteen years, when he 
worked for two years at carpentering. In 
1848 he came to Wayne County, Ohio, 
and for one year found employment as a 
carpenter. In 1849 he rented a farm for 
six years, in Milton Township, and then 
purchased a farm in Medina County, Ohio, 
which he carried on for eight years; then 
purchased a farm at Sterling, and in 1871 
he moved to his present place in Milton 
Townshij), Wayne County. In addition 
to farming Mr. Johnson has followed the 



26 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



occupation of an auctioneer for twenty-five 
years, with an average of fifty-five sales 
per year. He is popular as an auctioneer 
in four or five of the surrounding counties. 
November 20, 1849, Mr. Johnson mar- 
ried Eosana, daughter of John and Sarah 
Lance, of Milton Township, Wayne 
County. She died July 12, 1866. leaving 
eight children: Sarah, wife of Barnhart 
Bartholomew, of Medina County. Ohio 
(has three children: Wesley, Irvin and 
Charles) ; Polly, wife of C. G. Bessey, of 
Abilene, Dickinson Co., Kas. (has two 
children: Fay and Ray); John O. (de- 
ceased) ; Casper, in Milton Township, mar- 
ried to Emma, daughter of J. H. Euggles, 
of Creston, Ohio, who died, and he after- 
ward married Mamie, daughter of H. P. 
Fasig, of Medina County, Ohio, and they 
have two children ; Nellie and Carl ; 
Hettie, wife of George Spooner, of Gratiot 
County, Mich., has one child, an infant; 
Eosana, Alice Tiola, Solomon J. In 1872 
Mr. Johnson married his present wife, 
Harriet, daughter of John M. and Eliza- 
beth Smith, of Milton Township, Wayne 
County, and by her has six childi-en, as 
follows: Thurman,Corwin,Thomas, David, 
Belle and Frank. Mr. Johnson is an 
ardent Democrat in politics, and has 
always taken an active part in the affairs 
of his township. He has served as con- 
stable, supervisor, school director and 
assessor, and at the present time (1888) 



he is one of the township trustees. He 
is a member of Seville Lodge, No. 74, 
F. <fe A. M., and of Seville Council, No. 
474, E. A., also of Sterling Lodge, No. 
173, K. P. He is a member of the United 
Brethren Church in Christ at Sterling. 
Wayne Co., Ohio. 



AETIN WELKEE, retired dis- 



I/|l trict judge of the United States 



IH 

J) -^ Court, Wooster, Ohio, was born 
in Knox County, Ohio, April 25, 
1819. His father, who was of German 
descent, was an early settler in Ohio, and 
having but little means to educate a large 
family, his son was obliged to rely upon 
his own resources. His educational ad- 
vantages in youth were necessarily limited 
to a few years' schooling during winters 
in the log cabin school-house of the West. 
This primeval educational structure, the 
antiquated and vanished predecessor of 
the modern university, is well described 
by the judge himself in the following par- 
agraph taken fi-om his speech delivered 
at the dedication of the Wooster High 
School, October. 1870: 

Tbe scene before me to-day recalls lo me days 
of other years, far back in the history of common 
schools in our State. I shall never forget the first 
school in which I entered, and tbe house in which 
it was held. On a cold December morning I 





//^^^z^t^. — ^ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



29 



walked through a heavy snow, three miles, to the 
school-house, on the banks of Owl Creek, in Kuox 
County. I there found a little log cabin, sixteen 
feet square, with puncheon floor, clapboard door 
and roof, and greased paper on the windows. The 
whole end of the house one wide fire-place, with a 
chimney, made of clay and sticks, built on the out- 
side, and a blazing log fire in the ample fire-place. 
The benches or seats were split logs, with the flat 
side uppermost, with round sticks for legs, on 
which we sat with our feet dangling above the 
rude floor. The master, as the leader was then 
called, had the only desk, and that was a flat board 
with four legs, standing in one corner. The writ- 
ing tables consisted of wide split slabs along one 
side of the room, supported by pins driven in the 
logs of the house. In this public building — and It 
is a fair representative of its day — we were pro- 
vided a school for three months in the year, the 
winter season oulj'. 

It was under such circumstances, and 
possessed of such meager facilities of 
education, that Martin Welker was to re- 
ceive the mental training requisite to the 
active public life which lay before him. 
At an early age he developed a strong 
inclination for books and the acquisition 
of knowledge, and his habit of assiduous 
application soon enabled him to become 
master of the branches as taught at that 
time in the schools. At the age of four- 
teen he abandoned his father's farm, and 
obtained a situation as clerk in a store in 
a neighboring village, where he remained 
four years, in the meantime appropriating 
much of his leisure time to the investiga- 
tion of the higher branches of an English 
education. When a clerk in the store an 



event occurred which, no doubt, largely 
influenced, and to an eminent degree im- 
parted purpose and determination to his 
career in life. He was called as a witness 
before a grand jury at Mount Vernon. 
He had lieard of courts and judges, but 
this was his first opportunity of witness- 
ing either. The Hon. Ezra Dean was 
then presiding judge, and was a man of 
commanding appearance and dignified 
deportment and manner. This single but 
extraordinary circumstance so wonderful- 
ly impressed the then plastic mind of the 
young witness for the first time in court 
that he then and there resolved to be a 
lawyer, and, if possible, to be worthy to 
attain that higher and nobler distinction 
of judge. This resolution ripened into a 
firm and settled purpose. His boyhood 
associates heard his declarations, and 
many of them lived to see them verified. 
He never lost sight of his young ambi- 
tions, and how earnestly, zealously and 
indefatigably he has labored to accom- 
plish and vindicate those ambitious his 
remarkable judicial record most eloquent- 
ly explains. At the end of eighteen years 
of hard and unremitted labor, and of 
many changes of fortune, he was elected 
judge of the district over the same Judge 
Dean, who was his competitor, and actual- 
ly occupied the same chair in the same 
old court-house at Mount Vernon. This 
was the position he had declared to an 



30 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



associate he would aspire to attain: and, 
on its attainment, his youthful friend, now 
an eminent physician, warmly congratu- 
lated him on the fulfillment of his boyish 
dreams — a most laudable early ambition. 
At the age of eighteen, having made 
considerable progress in a general educa- 
tion, he entered a lawyer's ofiice at Mill- 
ersbvirgh. Holmes County, and commenced 
the study of the legal profession, in the 
multitudinous and complex intricacies of 
which he has acquired a national reputa- 
tion. While engaged in the study of law 
he occupied a portion of the time in prob- 
ing the roots and exploring the beauties 
of the Latin tongue; nor did he omit 
carefully to peruse the pages of ancient 
and modern history, and thus lay deep 
the foundation for the superstructure of 
his future eminence. In the literary so- 
cieties with which he was identified he 
soon acquired reputation as a cogent rea- 
soner, an apt and skillful debater, as well 
as an accomplished and vigorous writer. 
In the political campaign of 1840 he took 
a very active part for one so young and 
inexperienced. The editorial department 
of the Whig paper published in the town 
in which he resided received many keen 
and valuable contributions from his pen. 
At the age of twenty -one he was admitted 
to the bar, and rapidly rose to distinction 
as a jurist and advocate. Since then we 
might almost say of him what Phillips 



said of Bonaparte, that his path has been 
"a place of continued elevations." In 
1846 he was appointed clerk of the court 
of common pleas of Holmes County for a 
term of seven years, serving but five, when 
he resigned and resumed the practice of 
law. In 1848 he was nominated by the 
Whig party as its candidate for Congress 
in the district then composed of Holmes, 
Coshocton and Tuscarawas, but the dis- 
trict was largely Democratic, and he failed 
of an election. After he had been prac- 
ticing ten years he was nominated and 
elected judge of the court of common 
pleas for the Sixth District of Ohio, which 
then included Wayne County, and served 
the constitutional term of five years. At 
the close of this period he was unani- 
mously renominated, but, on account of 
much political excitement at the time, 
growing out of the presidential contest 
of 1856, himself being a Whig in politics 
and the district largely Democratic, he 
failed of re-election, although running 
largely ahead of his ticket. In the fall of 
1857 he was elected lieutenant-governor 
of Ohio, at the time that S. P. Chase was 
elected governor. In this position he 
served one term, but declined a re- 
election. 

At the breaking out of the War of the 
Rebellion he was appointed aid-de-camp 
to Gov. Deunison, and assigned to the 
duties of judge advocate-general of the 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



31 



State. He acted as such, aud was the 
coutidential assistant of the governor, 
generally, until the expiration of his term 
of office. His business qualifications in 
this position contributed valuable service 
in calling out aud organizing the Ohio 
troops. He was afterward appointed a 
major on the stafP of Gen. J. D. Cox, after- 
ward governor of Ohio and secretary of 
the interior, aud sei-ved out the term for 
which the first soldiers were enlisted. In 
1862 he was appointed by Gov. Tod as- 
sistant adjutant-general of the State of 
Ohio and State superintendent of the 
draft for that year. While in discharge 
of that duty he was nominated for Con- 
gress by the Republican party, but was 
defeated (as were many others in that dis- 
astrous campaign) by a majority of only 
thirty-six. In 1864 he was nominated 
again, and was elected by a large majority 
to the XXXIXth Congress, from the Four- 
teenth Ohio District, then composed of 
the counties of Holmes, Ashland, Wayne, 
Medina and Lorain. In 1866 he was re- 
elected to the XLth Congress, serving on 
the joint committee on retrenchment and 
on the committee for the District of Co- 
lumbia. In 1868 he was again elected, to 
the XLIst Congress, where he served as 
chairman of the committee on retrench- 
ment of the House, on the committee of 
the District of Columbia and the commit- 
tee on private land claims, of which latter 



he was acting chairman daring the last 
session of that Congress. In the summer 
of 1869 the congressional retrenchment 
committee crossed the continent to Cali- 
fornia with a view of visiting and investi- 
gating the custom house of San Francisco. 
Mr. Welker was chairman of the House 
committee, and Patterson, of New Hamp- 
shire, chaii'man of the Senate committee. 
While on the Pacific coast they were most 
hospitably entertained, and were the re- 
cipients of much attention and many fa- 
vors by the citizens. They visited the 
Geysers, Yosemite and the Cliff House, 
groves of big trees, crossed the beautiful 
bay, and were saluted by cannon from 
Alcatraz. In connection with his duties 
on retrenchment committees he made 
himself familiar with the working machin- 
ery of the Government. This committee 
had charge of the organization of the at- 
torney-general's office, and made it the 
department of justice. During his serv- 
ice in Congress he made one of the first 
speeches on reconstruction, aud several 
other speeches on finance, agricultural 
department, impeachment of the Presi- 
dent and several eulogies on the deaths of 
members, besides often engaged in gen- 
eral discussions. In November, 1873, 
he was appointed, by President Grant, 
district judge of the United States for the 
Northern District of the State of Ohio, 
vice Hon. Charles Sherman, resigned, and 



32 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



was immediately confirmed by the Senate. 
This is a life appointment, and is the key- 
stone in the handsome and enviable arch 
which crowns the reputation of Mr. 
Welker. He brought to the discharge of 
its duties the maturer products of a life 
of toil, the solid experiences of professional 
manhood, an enlightened and discriminat- 
ing mind in the highest state of culture, 
a sound judgment, and a keen and lucid 
comprehension of the law. The office 
honored him no more than he has honored 
it. On his application he was retired, 
June 1, 1889, under the laws of the Unit- 
ed States, which provide for the retire- 
ment of United States judges, he having 
served sixteen years and arrived at the 
age of seventy years. 

Judge Welker was married March 4, 
1841, the day of President Harrison's in- 
auguration, to Miss Maria Armor, of Mill- 
ersburgh, Ohio, a sister of Prof. S. G. 
Armor, of Long Island Medical College. 
She is a lady of refinement and culture, 
and was highly esteemed by her acquaint- 
ances and friends in "Washington City. 
They have no children. At the close of 
his term of judgeship of the court of com- 
mon pleas, and in the spring of 1857, he 
removed to Wooster, where he has perma- 
nently resided ever since, though his ju- 
dicial duties demanded his presence in 
Cleveland and Toledo. He is now also 
professor of political science and of con- 



stitutional and international law in the 
University of Wooster, where he delivers 
a course of lectures. A few years ago the 
same university conferred upon him the 
degree of Doctor of Laws. He has been, 
in the loftiest sense, a public man almost 
throughout life. Among the galaxy of 
distinguished men of Ohio he has exerted 
a great influence in the development of 
his native State, and, in his quiet, unob- 
trusive, but effective way, has contributed 
largely in shaping her political destiny. 



T T'UGH A. HART. M. D. Well 

Ir^j known, and standing high as a 
Ij — specialist in his profession, is the 
gentleman whose name heads this 
sketch. He was born in Juniata County, 
Penn., June 16, 184.3. His father, Will- 
iam Hart, was a native of the same county, 
born in 1809, and therein spent his life in 
the occupation of farming. He passed 
from earth in 1850. The paternal an- 
cestry were of Scotch-Irish descent, and 
came to America many years ago; the 
maternal ancestry were Scotch, and came 
to America at a date even earlier than 
the paternal ancestry. The maternal 
great-grandfather served through the 
Revolution, and the maternal grand- 
father, Robert Robinson, was a lieu- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



33 



tenant in the Pennsylvania iufantiy in 
tbe War of 1812. William Hart, the 
father of Hugh A., was united in marriage, 
in 1838, with Miss Prudence A. Robinson, 
also a native of Juniata County, Penn., and 
by her became the father of six children, 
of whom four are now living, Hugh A. 
(our subject) and Mary A. being the 
only ones in Wayne County. In 1867 
Mrs. Hart came to Wooster, Ohio, and 
here remained until her death, which oc- 
ciirred July 9, 1888, she being seventy- 
two years of age. She was a member of 
the United Presbyterian Church of 
Wooster. Her remains rest beside those 
of her husband, in Pennsylvania. 

The subject proper of these lines when a 
boy labored on his father's farm, and at six- 
teen years of age was sent to school at the 
Academic School of Academia, Penn. In 
18t)3 he enlisted in the service of his 
State at the time of the Southern invasion. 
After three months he returned to his 
home, and at Thompsontown, Penn., be- 
gan to fit himself for life's work by study- 
ing medicine. He later attended the 
University of New York, graduating in 
medicine thereat in 18(57. The same 
year he also graduated at the Aylette 
Medical Institute, New York City, and 
then came to Wayne County, where he 
began practice and continued until 1875, 
when he again went to New York in order 
to make a special study of the eye and ear, 



under the direction of Prof. H. Knapp. 
March 1, 1S7SI, he received an appoint- 
ment as clinical assistant, and later as as- 
sistant surgeon in the New York Ophthal- 
mic and Aural (eye and ear) Institute, 
and as such served two years. In 1881 
he returned to Wooster, where he has 
since made his home, having established 
a large practice and wide reputation as a 
very successful specialist. His business 
has gradually increased and extended un- 
til his patients now come many miles for 
treatment. In 1873 Dr. Hart was mar- 
ried to Miss Kate E. Imgard, daughter 
of August and Jeanette (Nold) Imgard, 
and a native of Wooster City, Ohio. 
This union has been blessed with one child, 
named H. Wayne Hart. The Doctor, as 
were his ancestors, is a Democrat. He is 
a member of the Board of Education, now 
serving his second term. Both himself 
and his esteemed wife are members of the 
United Presbyterian Church of Wooster. 



dOHNH. MARTIN, son of John and 
Ruth (Moore) Martin, was born in 
Clinton Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
in 1829, was reared and received his 
school training in Holmes County, and, 
having received a liberal education, he 
taught school successfully for some time. 



34 



WAY2^E COUNTY. 



In 1852 he traveled across the plains to 
California, where he remained five years, 
engaged in mining. Returning in 1857, 
he married, in 1859, Mary L., daughter of 
Samuel and Eliza Hayes, and located in 
Prairie Township, Holmes Co., Ohio, 
near Holmesville, where he carried on 
farming, and where two children were 
born: Janetta Irwin and Charles Fremont. 
In 1865 he purchased the farm he now 
owns in Salt Creek Township, Wayne 
County, to which he removed in 1866, 
and where he has since resided. Here 
one child was born, George Jared, now at 
home with his parents. Mr. Martin en- 
listed in Company A, One Hundred and 
Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
100-days' service, and was on guard 
duty at Washington, D. C. Mr. and 
Mrs. Martin are members of the Congre- 
gational Church; politically he is a Re- 
piiblican. [For early history of the Mar- 
tin family see sketch of James Martin. J 




i\ALTON C. SCOTT, editor of the 
Dalton Gazeiie, is a native of 
Dalton, Ohio, born November 17, 
1849, a son of Levi M. and Mary A. 
Scott, natives of Pennsylvania, and of 
Irish descent. He was reared and edu- 
cated in his native village, and in his 
youth learned the " art preservative." 



He subsequently turned his attention to 
journalistic work, and in 1875 established 
the Gazeiie, which was the first newspaper 
in Dalton. This he has now conducted 
fourteen years. Mr. Scott is a stanch re- 
publican, and has been honored by being 
the choice of the people for position of 
postmaster of Dalton, and is the present 
incumbent. Mr. Scott was married, Octo- 
ber 25, 1871, to Amanda S. Fenton, 
daughter of Smith and Susan Fenton. 
They have a family of five children: 
Ernest F., Luanna W., Gertrude L., 
Harry W. and Clyde C. Mr. Scott has 
been prominently identified with the pol- 
itics of his native town, and for fourteen 
years has served as city clerk, a position 
he still holds. His father was a soldier 
in the war of the Rebellion, a member of 
the Forty-first Ohio Infantry, and after 
his return home voted as he fought, for 
Republican principles. Mr. and Mrs. 
Scott are members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, and are among the promi- 
nent and influential citizens of the town. 



LBERT STAMM. The first of 
this family to come to Wayne 
County, Ohio, was Jacob Stamm, 
now deceased. He was born in 
Somerset County, Penn., March 14, 1805, 
his parents being George and Elizabeth 




WAYNE COUNTY. 



35 



(Baker) Stamm, natives of that couuty. 
His father dying when he was quite 
young, Jacob was reared by his grand- 
father Baker, and in 1830 they came to 
Wayne County, locating in Franklin 
Township, on 160 acres of land, where 
Mr. Baker ended his days. His mother 
also came to Wayne County, married one 
Stuckey, and died in Centerville. Jacob 
was first married, in Pennsylvania, to 
Catherine Schaaf, who died in 1852, and 
September 1, 1853, he married Margaret, 
daughter of John Hagy, of Holmes 
County, Ohio, by which union there were 
nine children, all yet living: Albert; 
Eliza; Adolph; George, married to Cora 
Estella Blue, of Knox County, Ohio; 
Jacob, married to Hannah Goodear, of 
Cass County, Neb. ; Wilson, in Nebraska, 
and Joseph, Margaret and LeGrand, at 
home. 

Mr. Stamm was a stanch Kejjublican, 
and held various township offices. He was 
a leading member of the German Lutheran 
Church of Wooster; also helped to build 
the church in Franklin Township. He 
died August 27, 1878. His widow now 
lives, with seven of her children, on the 
old homestead, Albert, the subject of this 
sketch, being the eldest, and taking charge 
of the affairs of the estate. The family 
are engaged in general farming and stock 
raising, and are very highly respected by 
the community in which they live. 



liOHN EDWIN ZIMMERMAN, of 

kj. I Smithville, Wayne Co., Ohio, is the 
^-^ youngest son of John and Mary 
(Strock) Zimmerman, who have been res- 
idents of the county for forty years, and 
are probably the oldest married couple in 
the county, having lived together for nearly 
sixty-four years. The paternal grand- 
parents of our subject, George and Eliz- 
abeth (Lyttle) Zimmerman, were both 
natives of Pennsylvania, the former born 
in Germantown, and the latter in Chester. 
The father was of German extraction, his 
parents having come to this country prior 
to the Revolution. The mother was of 
Scotch -Irish descent. George Zimmer- 
man was a currier by trade, and lived in 
Philadelphia until after his marriage. 
On the breaking out of the yellow fever 
there, in 1801, he removed to Germantown, 
and shortly after to Lancaster County, 
Penn., where he and his wife died, he 
aged sixty-one, and she seventy-three. 

John Zimmerman, father of our subject, 
lived in Lancaster until he was nineteen, 
when he went to Mechanicsburg, Cumber- 
land Co. , Penn. , where he worked at cabinet- 
making and house carpentering, and later 
helped to build the State capitol, at Har- 
risburg, Penn. On the completion of the 
State house he returned to Cumberland 
County, and again engaged in cabinet- 
making until 184:8, when he removed to 
Ohio, living the first six months in New 



36 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Carlisle, Clarke County, then coming to 
Smithville, Wayne County, where he has 
ever since lived. There he engaged in 
merchandising for three years, and then 
again started the cabinet-making, carry- 
iug it on until 1884, when he retii'ed, giv- 
ing up the business to his sous. March 
3, 1825, John Zimmerman was married to 
Mary Strock, who was born in Pennsyl- 
vania August 31, 1802. They are the 
parents of three sons and two daughters. 
Two are deceased. Joseph died October 
6, 1846, aged twenty years and nine 
months, and Mary Emily died May 19, 
1855. The survivors are Manuel S., 
married to Sarah Ginley, carrying on 
cabinet-making and undertaking with his 
brother, and John E., our subject. The 
daughter is Adeline, wife of Henry Will- 
aman, of Canton, Ohio. John Zimmer- 
man was for two years a member of the 
Pennsylvania Legislature, and since com- 
ing to Ohio has held several important 
oflSces. For fourteen years he was justice 
of the peace, and for almost as long a 
time was notary public. He was an ex- 
ecutor and administrator, and settled many 
estates, his first experience in that line 
being in Pennsylvania sixty-three years j 
ago. He has enjoyed in a marked degree 
the confidence of his neighbors, who felt 
safe in entrusting their business in his ; 
hands. He and his wife ai-e members of | 
the Church of God of Smithville. For 



nearly fifty years he was an elder, but the 
growing infirmities of age caused his res- 
ignation. During all the many years 
they have been residents of Smithville he 
and his wife have ever enjoyed the respect 
and esteem of their neighbors, as most 
upright and honorable persons and con- 
sistent Christians, and now, well advanced 
in years, can look back with satisfaction 
to a life well spent. 

John Edwin Zimmerman was born in 
Cumberland County, Penn., September 
25, 1834. He came to Ohio with his par- 
ents, and since their removal to Smith- 
ville has ever since made that place his 
home. He learned his father's trade of 
cabinet-making, working with the latter 
until his retirement, when, as stated, he 
and his brother Manuel took the business. 
They also do undertaking, which has be- 
come the principal part of their trade. 

\ On May 2, 1864, John E. and his brother 
Manuel enlisted for 100 days in Company 
A, One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Volun- 

I teer Infantry, serving four months. No- 
vember 9, 1865, he was married to Isa- 
bella, daughter of William and Maria 
Greenamyer, of whose family a full his- 

I tory is given under the name of P. S. 

j Greenamyer. She was born in Colum- 
biana, Ohio, January 30, 1840. They 
have one child, a son, named William G., 
now twenty-one years of age, who lives 
with his parents. Mr. Zimmerman has 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



been treasurer of the township, and has 
also held other positions of trust. He is 
a friend to education, and is one of the 
incoroorators of the Northern Ohio Nor- 

J. 

mal School. He is a member of David- 
son Post, No. 190, G. A. E., and as a 
neighbor and citizen is highly esteemed. 



f OSEPH A. SCHUCH, county record- 
K I er of Wayne County, was born in 
^^ Ashland County, Ohio, November 
6, 1849. His paternal grandparents came 
to America from Germany about 1847, 
and located in Wooster, Ohio, preparing 
to make a home there, but in eight days 
after their arrival death took away the 
grandmother, and eighteen months later 
the grandfather. Frederick Schuch, the 
father of our subject, came to America in 
1846, and direct to Wooster, Ohio. At 
Loudon ville, Ashland Co., Ohio, he was 
married to Margaret Young, a native of 
Holmes County, Ohio, and the daughter 
of Christian Young. Her mother died 
when she (Margaret) was but eight years 
of age. This union was blessed by the 
birth of eight children, seven of whom are 
now living. 

Joseph A. Schuch, the subject proper 
of this biographical memoir, received 
school advantages at Loudonville, Ohio, 



and later for one and a half years at 
Wooster. In 1874 he was married to 
Miss Anna Kemmerline, daughter of 
George and Hannah Kemmerline, and a 
native of Wooster, Ohio. Two children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Schuch: 
Frederick and Eveline. Mr. Schuch first 
learned the trade of a barber, and fol- 
lowed it successfully for some years. He 
was very popular and made many friends. 
April 6, 1881, he was elected township 
treasurer, in which capacity he served 
three terms, and in 1887 he was elected 
to his present position of county recorder. 
His majority has always been large, and 
far gi'eater than his party vote would 
alone give, thus showing his popularity 
with both parties. Mr. Schuch is a nat- 
ural musician, and still is, as he has been 
for years, connected with the Wooster 
band. He is a member of Morgen Stern 
Lodge No. 41, K. of P., and the Improved 
Order of Eed Men. 



D 



AVID I. SLEMMONS was born in 
Milton Township, Wayne Co., 
^^^' Ohio, June 21, 1839, son of Sam- 
uel and Ann (McKee) Slemmons, who 
were natives of Washington County, Pa., 
and came to Wayne County in 1819, 
where they entered a tract of land in 



38 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Milton Township. They were prominent 
members of the Jackson Presbyterian 
Church, in which the father was an elder. 
He was an active Democrat, and held the 
office of township treasurer for several 
years. He died in 1877, his wife in 
1874. Five of their children are still 
living, viz.: Samuel, John, David I., Eliz- 
abeth (widow of James Whiteside) and 
Martha (Mrs. M. S. Gish), all in Milton 
Township, Wayne County. The subject 
of this memoir received his education at 
the township schools and Seville Academy. 
In 1877 he married Mary, daughter 
of William Armstrong, of Canaan Town- 
ship, Wayne County, and they have two 
children, Howard and Laura. He is en- 
gaged in farming, and owns two quarter 
sections of land in Milton Township. Mr. 
Slemmons is an elder in the Jactson 
Presbyterian Church. In politics he is a 
Democrat. He held the office of township 
clerk for a period of twelve years, from 
1869 until 1881. 




,\ILLIAM MUSSER was born 
June 9, 1835, in Salt Creek 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, on 
the farm now owned by J. B. Crosby, and 
is a son of Jacob and Sarah (McDonald) 
Musser. John McDonald, maternal grand- 



father of our subject, was of Scotch de- 
scent, born in Fauquier County, Va., where 
he married and died, having reared a 
family of eight children, as follows : John, 
James, Carter, William, Elizabeth, Mary, 
Nancy and Sarah, all deceased except 
Sarah. He served in the colonial army 
during the entire war for independence, 
that gave birth to our great republic. 
Jacob Musser, father of William, came 
from Switzerland to America in 1816, and 
in 1822 revisited Europe. Returning to 
the United States, he continued his jour- 
ney to Shenandoah County, Va., and there, 
in 1834, married, about which time he 
removed to Wayne County, Ohio, making 
the journey from the Shenandoah Valley 
on horseback. He located in Salt Creek 
Township, and here followed his trade, 
that of carpenter, and built many of the 
better class of houses at that time. He 
was the father of four cliildren, as fol- 
lows: William, Catherine (now wife of 
L. C. Reichenbach, residing in East 
Union Township, Wayne County), Lucy 
(now Mrs. Smith, residing in Paint Town- 
ship, Wayne County) and Emily (now 
Mrs. Allen Brown, residing in Salt Creek 
Township, Wayne County). The father 
of these children died December 23, 1881 ; 
his widow has her home with her son, 
William. 

William Musser was married Decem- 
ber 24, 1863, to Caroline Emick, daughter 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



39 



of George Emick, of Sugar Creek Towu- 
Bhip, Wayne County, and located on the 
farm he now owns, in Salt Creek Town- 
ship, where he carries on farming. The 
children of Mr. and Mrs. Musser are 
Emma C, Sidney A., Harvey E. and 
Charles J., all at home with their parents. 
He is identified with the Republican party, 
and has been a member of the Board of 
Education for twelve or fifteen years, dur- 
ing which time many changes and im- 
provements have been made in the town- 
ship in regard to schools and school 
buildings. 



E 



p^DWAED SCHAAF, a son of Mi- 
chael and Elizabeth (Stamm) 
Schaaf, was born on the homestead 
he now owns, in Franklin Township, 
"Wayne Co., Ohio, April 9, 1841. Mi- 
chael Schaaf was a native of Bavaria, 
Germany, immigrated to America about 
1820 or 1825, and first located in Somer- 
set County, Penn. In 1830 he came to 
"Wayne County, and located on eighty 
acres of land in Franklin Township, where 
he died in 1871. He held several polit- 
ical offices, and was a prominent member 
of the Reformed Lutheran Church. His 
wife died in 1882. Two of their children 
are deceased, viz. : Michael and Albert, 



both of whom were members of Company 
A, One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, and both died in 1868. 
The seven children yet living are as 
follows: Eliza Ann, wife of Isaac Bur- 
nett, in Franklin Township, "Wayne Coun- 
ty; Adam, in Williams County, Ohio; 
George, also in Franklin Township; Jo- 
siah, in Arkansas; Edward, on the home- 
stead; John and William, both in Frank- 
lin Township. Of these, George was born 
in Franklin Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
June 17, 1835; in 1860 he married 
Esther, daughter of John Burnett, of 
Franklin Township, and they have five 
children: Elsie Jane, Francis Asbury, 
John Ellsworth, Osmond C. and Harley 
Walter; the father of these children is 

j a Republican in politics, and has been 
school director in his township; he is 
one of the trustees of the Moorland Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church. John Schaaf was 

: born April 27, 1847; in 1873 he married 
Mary J., daughter of S. M. Henry, Esq., 
of Franklin Township, Wayne County, 
and they have one child, Florence E. ; Mr. 
Schaaf is one of the trustees of the Moor- 
land Methodist Episcopal Church. Will- 
iam Schaaf was born September 13, 1853, 
on the homestead where he now lives, and 
was married, in 1876, to Miss Alice, 
daughter of Seth Smith, of Franklin 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio; they have 
two children, Odessa E. and Eliza E. ; Mr. 



40 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



Scliaaf and family are members of the 
Moorland Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Edward Schaaf, whose name heads this 
sketch, enlisted, in 1862, in Company G, 
Sixteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and 
served nine months. He never maiTied. 



I( NDEEW J. BLACKSTONE, cloth- 
|LJ^\ ing merchant, Orrville, Ohio, is a 
^ native of Wayne County, born in 
Paint Township, April 29, 1840. On 
his paternal side his grandfather came from 
England and his grandmother fi-om Ger- 
many. On the maternal side both grand- 
parents came fi-om Wales. They all set- 
tled in Westmoreland County, Penn., where 
Daniel Blackstone, father of Andrew J., 
was born in 1810. He and his wife are 
now living near West Lebanon, in Paint 
Township, his farm lying jiartly in that 
township and partly in Sugar Creek. 

He came to Wayne County with his par- 
ents when young, and being left father- 
less at an early age, had to rely entirely 
on his own exertions. Not only did he 
maintain himself, but he was the main 
support of his mother until her death, 
which occurred in 1854. Notwithstand- 
ing his disadvantageous circumstances, by 
unremitting industry and habits of thrift 
he made his way in the world, and is now 



in possession of a comfortable compe- 
tence, besides giving each of his children 
a good start in life. He was quite young 
when his parents removed to Ohio, and, 
until his marriage, worked out. After 
that, iu company with his mother, he 
bought a small piece of land, and on that 
place he has lived ever since. As the 
years went by and prosperity rewarded 
his industry, piece by piece he added to 
his farm, until to-day he has one of the 
finest in Wayne County, comprising 225 
aci'es. His early habits of industry have 
never left him, and he has always been 
noted as an extraordinarily industrious 
and hard-working man. Having all he 
could attend to at home, he has avoided 
public office, his politics being simply to 
do his duty at the jiolls. His first vote 
was cast for Harrison and Tyler, in 1840. 
He is known as a kind and charitable 
man, always willing to help the poor and 
distressed, and is highly esteemed in the 
community where he has so long made 
his home. He is a firm believer in the 
doctrines of Christianity, but has never 
united with any denomination. He, how- 
ever, has always been a liberal contribu- 
tor to all church work, and gives freely 
to all churches in the neighborhood. As 
illustrative of his character, it maj' be 
mentioned that he has never in his life 
been eugacred in a lawsuit, eitlier as 
plaintiff or defendant. He was married 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



41 



wbeu twenty-one or twenty-two years of 
age to Miss Harriet GriflSth, daughter of 
Benjamin and Mary Griffith, of Sugar 
Creek Township, of which her father was 
one of the early settlers, and where he 
held the office of justice of the peace 
many years, until his death. Harriet 
Griffith was born in Westmoreland 
County, Penn., in 1812. She is a woman 
of deep religious convictions, and was 
reared in the Methodist faith by pious 
parents. She is now a member of the 
Lutheran Church near her home. 
She has been a faithful wife and devoted 
mother, and has the sincere love and af- 
fection of all her children. Mr. and Mrs. 
Blackstone have had ten children, of 
whom one, Stephen, is deceased. The 
rest are Benjamin, living in Stark 
County, Ohio; Susan, wife of John A. 
Rose, in Marion, Kas. ; Andrew J. ; Eli, 
living near Tipton, Mo. ; Melissa, wife of 
Wesley Seller, in Waterloo, Ind. ; Mary, 
wife of W. M. Snyder, of this county; 
Howard M., also in this county; Har- 
vey Ervin, a practicing phjsician in Ex- 
celsior, Mo., and Isaac A., on a farm near 
the old home. 

Andrew J. Blackstone, the subject of 
this memoir, lived on the farm until he 
was twenty-one years old, receiving a 
good common-school education. He was 
married in 1861, and removed to Illinois, 
renting a farm there in the spring of 



1862, but in a few months he gave it up 
to enter the Union army, on July 21 of 
that year, in Company H, One Hundred 
and Twenty-third Illinois Volunteer In- 
fantry. While in the service he under- 
went much hardship. In the fall of 1862. 
at Louisville, Ky., he was detailed to 
help manage teams, and was kicked and 
trampled upon by a mule, and severely 
injured, laying him up in the hospital for 
two months. In November following he 
rejoined his regiment at Glasgow, Ky., 
and was in the battle of Murfreesboro, 
Tenn. January 21, 1863, he was one of 
a detail sent out with a forage train. 
Scarcely had they passed the Union pick- 
ets when they were charged upon by 
rebel cavalry, and thirty-three teams, 
teamsters, detail and guards were caj^t- 
ured. They were hurried off to the 
rebel Gen. Morgan's headquarters at 
McMinnville, Tenn., where they were pa- 
j roled. Mr. Blackstone was sent out with 
i rebel teams on a foraging expedition, 
and did not get back to camp until 11 
o'clock at night, before which time all 
the other prisoners had been sent off. 
He was given his parole, but was not al- 
lowed to leave the rebel lines. The hard- 
ships and exposure he here endured 
brought on a severe fit of sickness, leav- 
ing him hardly able to walk. Other pris- 
oners had been captured in the meantime, 
and with them he was sent to the Union 



42 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



lines, but, being unable to keep up, he fell 
behind, and was picked up by Union cav- 
alry, who took him to Glasgow, Ky. 
His parole directed him to report at Louis- 
ville, Ky., and on his way from Glasgow 
to the railroad he was overhauled by two 
rebel cavalrymen, who took away his pa- 
role, pronouncing it bogus, and charged 
him with being a spy. During the night 
he escaped, after being shot at several 
times, and made his way to the railroad, 
and thence to Louisville. By order of 
Gov. Brough he was sent to Camp 
Chase, Ohio, and afterward to his home. 
From there he reported by letter to his 
old captain, but learned soon after that 
he had been killed. Getting no orders, 
and anxious to re-enter his country's serv- 
ice, and not wishing to return to Com- 
pany H, One Hundred and Twenty-third 
Illinois, in violation of his oath of parole, 
he enlisted, January -i, 1864, in the Ninth 
Ohio Cavalry, in which he did gallant 
service until the close of the war, being 
promoted to first sergeant in six months 
after joining the regiment, for meri- 
torious conduct. He participated in over 
thirty cavalry engagements; was with 
Gen. Rousseaiion his famous raid through 
Alabama, from July 10 to 22, 1864; then 
at the downfall of Atlanta, Ga. ; thence 
with Gen. Sherman on the march to the 
sea, and back up through the Carolinasto 
the surrender of Gen. Johnston, at Lex- 



ington, N. C, April 26, 1865. Twice 
while in the service he was reported dead, 
once it being reported with particulars in 
the Nashville papers. He was discharged 
August 2, 1865. As he received but one 
month's pay and §25 bounty on joining 
the One Hundred and Twenty -third Illi- 
nois, he now has a petition before Con- 
gress asking for the amount justly due 
him for faithful service. Returning to 
the pursuits of peace, he rented his 
Grandmother Griffith's farm, near his 
old home, and the following spring 
bought two shares of it from the heirs. 
Two years after, he bought the rest of 
the farm, which comprises 100 acres, 
and there he made his home for eight- 
een years, until 1884. He then re- 
moved to Orrville. where the family yet 
live. In 1885 he bought out the cloth- 
ing store of Joseph Beidler, in Orrville, 
which he conducted successfully until 
May 25, 1889, when he exchanged his 
store for a 240-acre farm in Davidson 
County, Dak., which he expects to make 
his future home, his postoffice address 
being Mount Vernon. December 12, 
1861, Mr. Blackstone was married 
to Charlotte, daughter of David and 
Mary Fortney, of Sugar Creek Town- 
ship, Wayne County. She was born in 
Stark Count J', Ohio, July 9, 1842. They 
have had five children, of whom two, 
Melissa and Mary Rebecca, died youngs 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



43 



The survivors are Rousseau, a jeweler by 
professiou, liviug in Crestline, Ohio; Eli 
Henderson, a telegrapher by profession, 
and Pearl May, who lives with her par- 
ents. In religious belief Mr. Blackstone 
adopts the doctrines of the Uuiversalist 
Church, and among the people who know 
them they bear the reputation of upright, 
good neighbors and citizens. 



JOHN S. JAMES, eldest son of George 
and Ann (Sealy) James, was born in 
Somersetshire, England, May 4, 1817, 
and emigrated to America with his parents 
in 1832. For about thirty years he re- 
remained with his parents, and in 1862 
he moved onto his present farm of 160 
acres. In 1861 he married Miss Martha, 
daughter of Thomas Gilmore, of Frank- 
lin Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. She 
died in 1884, leaving six children, as fol- 
lows: Thomas Sealy, living at home; 
James Alfred, who married Sarah Grant, 
and lives in Franklin Township, Wayne 
County; William Edward, living at home; 
George A. and Harry Oscar, in Nebraska, 
and Henry Arthur, at home. Mr. James 
is a Democrat in politics, and has served 
his township as supervisor for three years, 
trustee for two years, and is now serving 
his fourth year as treasurer. He and 



family attend the services of the Moorland 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 



L 



EVI RUDY was born in Lancaster 
County, Penn., May 27, 1819, son 
of Christian and Barbara (Moyer) 
Rudy, natives of Lancaster County, Penn. 
They came to Wayne County, Ohio, in 
1834, and located on a farm near Dalton, 
in Sugar Creek Township, where they 
lived the remainder of their days. Chris- 
tian Rudy was a prominent member of 
the Menuonite Church ; in politics he first 
voted the Whig and afterward the Repub- 
lican ticket. He died in 1875, his wife 
in 1859. Their family consisted of ten 
children, eight of whom are still living, 
viz. : David, Sr., in Sugar Creek Township, 
Wayne County; Levi; Sarah, a maiden 
lady, also in Sugar Creek Township; 
Maria, living in Illinois ; Israel, in Denver 
City, Colo. ; Ann, wife of Samuel Suavely, 
of Sugar Creek Township; Barbara, wife 
of Henry Buchwalter, of Trumbull County, 
Ohio; David, in Sugar Creek Township. 
Levi Rudy, the subject of this memoir, 
came to Wayne County with his parents 
when fifteen years of age; was reared on 
the homestead farm, and sent to the 
schools of the period. In 1850 he 
purchased his present farm on the 



44 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



edge of Ualtou, Sugar Creek Township, 
where he has since resided. In 1851 he 
became united in marriage with Miss 
Elizabeth Ann, daughter of A. C. Cook, 
of Dalton, Ohio, and to them have been 
born four children, as follows: Mary Eva 
is the wife of J. Rudy Roebuck, of Baugh- 
man Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, and 
has two children, Ina and Laura ; Charles, 
living at home; Laura, wife of Barclay 
Snodgrass, of Dalton, Ohio, has two chil- 
dren, Frank and Harry; William, living 
at home. Mr. Rudy is a Republican, and 
has held the office of supervisor a number 
of years, and school director for over 
seventeen years. In 1880 he was elected 
land appraiser, and in 1886 justice of 
the peace, in which latter capacity he is 
now serving. His family are members of 
the Presbyterian Church. 



DR. JAMES D. ROBISON, one of 
1 the oldest and most successful phy- 
— ' sicians of Wooster, Ohio, was born 
April 23, 1820, in Wooster, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, where he was reared. His father, 
Thomas Robison, was born in Chambers- 
burgh, Penn., of Scotch-Irish ancestry. He 
(Thomas) was a farmer in the early por- 
tion of his life, and in 1806, in company 
with his five brothers, came to Ohio. 



After a sojourn here of three years he 
returned to Chambersbtirgh, and there 
learned the cabinet-making business, re- 
turning to Ohio in the fall of 1813, and 
locating in Wooster, where he carried on 
his tan-yard with his brother, David. 
Later he became interested in politics, and 
was elected justice of the peace, afterward 
sheriff of the county, and finally to the 
State Legislature. In connection with 
his political life he carried on merchan- 
dising, to which he devoted his time from 
1840 until his death, which occurred in 
1857. He visited Pennsylvania in the 
fall of 1816, and was married to Miss 
Jemima Dickey, a native of that State, who 
accompanied her husband on horseback 
from Pennsylvania to Ohio. They were 
among the first to organize the Presby- 
terian Church of Wooster, of which Mr. 
Robison was one of the trustees. Mrs. 
Robison survived her husband a number 
of years. Eight children were born to 
them, of whom the only ones living are 
the subject of this memoir and four 
daughters: Mrs. M. J., widow of John K. 
McBride, and Mrs. Martha A. Shively, in 
Wooster; Mrs. Margaret A. Jacobs, in 
Fort Wayne, Ind., and Mrs. Sarah A. 
Avery, in St. Louis, Mo. 

James D. Robison, whose name heads 
this sketch, became at the age of fourteen 
a clerk, and as such continued until he 
was nineteen. In February, 1840, he 





/^hn^xA^,^J^~yCr^^ ^fi^ A^, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



began reading medicine witli Dr. S. N. 
Bissell, of Wooster, and in the fall of 
184:1 entered Jefferson Medical College, 
Philadelphia. The following summer he 
pursued his chosen profession at Cincin- 
nati, and in October returned to Jefferson 
Medical College, where he graduated in 
March, 1843. His first office he opened 
in Cincinnati, where he practiced until 
July, 1846. He then, at the breaking out 
of the Mexican War, went to the field as 
surgeon of the Third Regiment Ohio Vol- 
unteers, under command of Samuel R. 
Curtiss. In 1848 he returned to Cincin- 
nati, and thence removed to Wooster, 
where he has since made his home and 
practiced his profession. In February, 
ISijT, the Doctor was united in marriage 
with Miss Anna E. Loring, of Medina, 
Ohio, who in 1865 passed to the grave, 
leaving three sons: Tom A., James Dick 
and Harry Loring. Of these.Tom A. is de- 
ceased; James D. is the owner of a whip 
manufactory in Wooster ; Harry L. is pre- 
paring to follow in the footsteps of his 
father, and is now studying medicine in 
New York City. In 1868 the Doctor chose 
for his second wife Viola C. Taylor, a 
native of Monroeville, Ohio, who departed 
this life in 1883. In the meantime the 
Doctor went to the War of the Rebellion as 
surgeon of the original Sixteenth Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, commissioned May 13, 
1861, promoted to brigade surgeon August 



5, 1861, but in March, 1863, on account of 
the ill health of his wife, resigned, and, 
returning to Wooster, was on the 30th of 
April commissioned surgeon of the Board 
of Enrollment of the Fourteenth Congres- 
sional District of Ohio, in which position 
he continued until the close of the war. 
Dr. Robison is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity. He assisted to build the Epis- 
copal Church, and has since been one of 
its most earnest and conscientious mem- 
bers. His life has been a A'ery active one, 
and being blessed with excellent health 
(having had but one illness), he has been 
able to accomplish much good for his 
fellow-men. In his profession he stands 
almost without a peer, and, as a man of 
whom all speak highly, very few are his 
equal. 

One incident of his army life may be 
related. At Phillips, during the attack, 
a rebel soldier had gone into a stable to 
saddle a horse, when a cannon-ball crashed 
through the building and shattered his 
leg. Seeing some Union troops approach- 
ing the barn, and supposing his life would 
at once be forfeited were he discovered, 
the poor fellow climbed to the loft and 
concealed himself in the hay, awaiting 
death from loss of blood. He was discov- 
ered, however, and Dr. Robison ampu- 
tated the shattered limb, therebj' saving 
his life. This was the first limb ampu- 
tated in the war; and an interesting fact 



48 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



connected with the incident is that the 
soklier who lost his leo^ manufactured an 
artificial one for himself with so much skill 
that the Confederates kept him for a time 
employed at similar work for others; and 
since the war he has established and is 
still operating one of the largest artificial 
limb manufactories in the United States. 



=^EOEGE W. KOSS was born on a 
farm in the village of Sterling, 
4[ Wayne Co., Ohio, June 8, 1854, 
a son of Joseijh and Catherine 
(Peckinpaugh) Ross, who are still living 
on the homestead. George W., the sub- 
ject of this memoir, was reared on the 
farm, and received a good classical edu- 
cation at the township schools and Lodi 
Academy. After finishing his education 
he entered the law office of J. B. Wood- 
ward, of Medina, Ohio, where he studied 
law during the summer months, and en- 
gaged in teaching school during the win- 
ter, which routine he followed for several 
years. During this time he once served 
in the capacity of principal and high 
school teacher of the schools, at Creston, 
Ohio, and twice in the same capacity 
of the schools at Sterling, Ohio. He then 
entered the office of J. C. Johnson, presi- 
dent of the Ohio Farmers' Insurance 



Company, and his partner, Mr. Graves, 
of Seville, Ohio, whei-e he read law for 
two j'ears. He was admitted to practice 
by the district court of Medina County, 
Ohio, March 27, 1879, and to the Circuit 
Court of the United States February 11, 
1885. He is also a member of the 
Wayne County bar. Mr. Ross has al- 
ways taken an active part in Republican 
politics, and is considered a leader in the 
northern part of the county. He was one 
of the organizers of the Sterling Wrench 
Company, and has acted as president of 
the same from 1886 to July, 1888. He 
is a member of Sterling Council No. 818, 
R. A., and is also an officer of the Grand 
Council of that order in Ohio. In Octo- 
ber, 1880, he united in marriage with 
Miss Carrie E., daughter of D. B. Beards- 
ley, attorney at law of Findlay, Ohio. 
Mr. Ross has never held any political of- 
fices, as he lives in a district strong in the 
opposite side of politics. 



If T ENRY MARSHALL, a well-known 
1"^ citizen of Wayne County, was 
Jj -* born in Doylestown, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, May 24, 1846. His pater- 
nal grandfather, who was a native of a for- 
eign land, immigrated to America, here 
to make a home, and located near Get- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



49 



tysburg, Peiiu., but later came to Wayne 
Couutj, Ohio, where the father of our sub- 
ject was horn. He (the father) became a 
farmer, and in 1842 was married to Miss 
Helen Shondel (formerly written Schan- 
del), a native of France, who had come to 
America with her parents, locating near 
Canton, Ohio, when she was five years of 
age, and still later settling in Milton 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. To this 
union two chilcb'en were born, viz. : Jo- 
seph, in Doylestown, Ohio, and Henry. 
In 1864 the father was called to the grave, 
and in 1869 the mother followed him. 

Henry Marshall first worked on his fa- 
ther's farm, receiving in the meantime a 
common-school education, until he was 
seventeen years of age, when he met with 
an accident which changed the course of 
his life. While felling a tree it lodged 
in another, and suddenly loosening fell 
upon him, breaking his leg so badly that 
amputation above the knee was found to 
be necessary. After this unfortunate acci- 
dent he spent four years at the Canton 
High School, and then returned to Doyles- 
town, where he entered the grocery busi- 
ness, in which he remained several years. 
During this time he efficiently filled the 
position of township clerk for several 
years, representing the Democratic party, 
to which he has ever owed allegiance. In 
1881 he was elected county recorder, and 
was re-elected in 1884. In February, 1888, 



he was appointed deputy judge of pro- 
bate, which position he is still filling. In 
1874 he chose a life's partner in the per- 
son of Miss Celia Dagenhart, daughter of 
Joseph and Cecelia Dagenhart, both now 
deceased, and a native of Massillon, Ohio. 
The maternal grandfather of our subject. 
Christian Schandel, was a soldier in the 
French army, accompanying Napoleon in 
his Russian campaign of 1812, and was 
badly frozen in the terrible retreat from 
Moscow. 



J(OHN B. CEOSBY, son of James and 
Margaret (Ross) Crosby, was born 
-~^ in Washington County, Penn., 
August 6, 1820. John Crosby, his grand- 
father, removed from Chester County, 
Penn., to Washington County, the same 
State. He reared a family of six children : 
John, William, James, Rebecca, Mar- 
garet aad Rachel. James, the third son, 
was the father of John B. He was born 
in Chester County, and removed with his 
parents to Washington County. He par- 
ticipated in the War of 1812, and two 
years after its close, in 1817, married and 
made Washington County his home until 
1840, when he moved to Wayne County, 
Ohio, and settled in Salt Creek Township, 



50 



T \ 'A YNEjyO UNTY. 



where both he and his wife passed the last 
years of their lives. To them were born 
eleven children, viz. : Sarah, who died 
aged twenty years and three months; 
John B., born in 1820; Elizabeth, died 
aged three years and six months; Mary 
Jane, died aged three years and four 
months; Nancy, born in 1825, living at 
Wooster; James E., born in 1828; Eben- 
ezer, born in 1829, died aged six months; 
Narcissa, born in 1831, died aged four 
years and six months; Lucinda, born in 
1834, died aged fifteen years ; Emily, born 
in 1836, is a resident of Wooster, and 
Amanda, born in 1839, is the wife of John 
W. McElroy, Jr., of Plain Township. 

John B. Crosby was reared and edu- 
cated in Washington County, Penn., and 
came to Wayne County with his parents 
in 1840. In 1846 he married Pensacela 
Brown, and located on the farm he now 
owns in Salt Creek Township. Their 
only child died in infancy. Mrs. Crosby 
died in 1848, and September 23, 1856, Mr. 
Crosby married Caroline Haymaker, and 
to them have been born two sons, Howard 
and Lincoln Chase. The latter died aged 
two years, and the former was married 
June 17, 1879, to Bell McBride, and is 
now engaged in farming in Salt Creek 
Township. Mr. and Mrs. Crosby are 
members of the Presbyterian Church. In 
politics Mr. Crosby casts his suffrage with 
the Prohibition party. 



dfOHN C. STEINEE is a son of 
Christian and Catherine (Amstutz) 
— Steiner, natives of France, who 
came to Wayne County, Ohio, in 1831, 
and purchased a tract of laud in Milton 
Township, where they carried on farming. 
Christian Steiner was a preacher in the 
Mennonite Church, and was instrumental 
in erecting two churches of that denomi- 
nation in Milton Township. His first wife 
died in 1840, the mother of five children, 
viz.: Peter, in Seville, Ohio; Christian 
E., in Milton Township, Wayne County; 
Barbara, wife of Frederick Amstutz, of 
Milton Township; John C. (our subject) 
and Annie, wife of David Amstutz, of 
Michigan. The mother of this family 
died in 1840, and Mr. Steiner then mar- 
ried Maria, daughter of Daniel Steiner. of 
Milton Township, Wayne County. By 
this union were born the following named 
children: Fannie, wife of Rev. David C. 
Amstutz, of Milton Township; Daniel, in 
Milton Township, Wayne County ; Ulrich, 
in Green Township, Wayne County; 
Gideon, in Kansas; Catherine, in Green 
Township, Wayne County; Amos, in Mil- 
ton Township, Wayne County, and David, 
merchant and postmaster at Sterling, 
Ohio. Mrs. Steiner, mother of these 
children, died in 1881, and Mr. Steiuer 
in 1885. 

John C. Steiner was born July 25, 
1828, was educated at the township 



schools, and has always followed farming 
and horse breeding. April 23, 1863, he 
married Miss Maria Kratz, daughter of 
Jacob Kratz, of Milton Township, Wayne 
County, and they have six children, viz.: 
Reuben K., Edwin L., Katie A., Harvey 
J., Alice and Lizzie May. Mi-. Steiner is 
a Democrat, and has served as supervisor 
and school director for many years. He 
was one of the organizers of the Sterling 
Wrench Company, and has since been one 
of its directors. During the late Rebellion 
he took an active part in furnishing men 
from Milton Township. He and wife are 
prominent members of the Mennonite 
Church. 



El LIAS A. FREET was born August 
26, 1832, near Columbiana, Ohio, 

' a son of George W. and Charlotte 

(House) Freet, the former a native of 
Virginia, and the latter of Pennsylvania. 
They first settled in Trumbull County, 
Ohio, and subsequently moved to Colum- 
biana, where the mother died in 1836. 
The father of our subject then married, 
for his second wife, Rachel Nevitt, of 
Harrison County, Ohio, and moved to 
Illinois, where he died in 1856. He was 
one of the original Abolitionists of East- 
ern Ohio. By his first wife George W. 



Freet had eight children, all of whom are 
dead except two, viz. : Elizabeth, wife 
of Jesse Gilbert, of Fairfield Township, 
Columbiana Co., Ohio, and Elias A. 
By his second wife he had five children, 
three of whom still live, viz.: Isaac H., 
in Kansas; George W., in Indiana, and 
Sarah Jane, wife of David Fraze, of 
Crawfordsville, Ind. The subject of this 
sketch was reared mostly in Portage 
County, Ohio, where he attended the dis- 
trict schools and the academy. In 1852 
he came to Daltou, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
where he worked at the merchant tailor's 
trade, and in 1858 he established his 
present business in Dalton, that of cloth- 
ing merchant. In 1855 Mr. Freet mar- 
ried Miss Luciuda, daughter of Curtis 
Houghton, of Dalton, Ohio, and by this 
union there are three children: Cora E. 
is the wife of William A. Harry, of Dal- 
ton, Ohio, and has one child, Judson F. ; 
Louisa and George Curtis are both at 
home. 

Mr. Freet and his family are mem- 
bers of the Dalton Presbyterian Church, 
of which he is an elder. In May, 1861, 
he was appointed postmaster of Dalton, 
which office he held until September 7, 
1885, and is now serving his tenth year 
as town treasurer. He was one of the 
original stockholders of the Wheeling <fe 
Lake Erie Railroad, and was instrumental 
in getting a station at Dalton. Mr. Freet 



52 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



has been a member of Cedar Lodge, No. 
430, F. & A. M., of Orrville, for twenty 
years. He has always been a stanch 
Kepublican, and is considered one of the 
leaders of his party in his town. 



dfAMES L. ZAEING, principal of 
the public school, Smitliville, Wayne 
•^^ Co., Ohio, is the eldest son of Eli 
Zaring, clerk of courts of the county, 
under whose name, on another page of 
this Yolume, is given the family history. 
His mother's maiden name was Mary 
Stevic. They are now residents of Woos- 
ter, where Mr. Zaring's official duties 
demand his presence. The siibject of 
this sketch was born in Plain Township, 
Wayne Co., Ohio, December 4, 1859. 
He attended the district school near his 
home, and when of suitable age learned 
the trade of shoemaking in summers in 
his father's shop. He, however, never 
followed this trade regularly. His com- 
mon-school education was supplemented 
by a thorough course at the Normal 
School in Smitliville, then conducted by 
Prof. Eberly. At the age of eighteen 
he was examined and obtained a teacher's 
certificate, but being of a youthful ap- 
pearance did not obtain a school until 
he was twenty years old. His first school 



was in Chester Township, where he taught 
three terms, constituting a full year. 
The succeeding two years he taught in 
District No. 3, in Plain Township, and 
then one year in District No. 4, in the 
same township. The following two years 
he taught in District No. 1, his home 
school, in which all his common-school 
education had been obtained. Each move 
was a step upward, and each position 
more responsible and more lucrative. 
Ever since he began his chosen career 
his course has been steadily onward. 
After leaving his home school he taught 
for a year in District No. 4, in Wooster 
Township, and was then offered and 
accepted the responsible position of prin- 
cipal of the public school at Smithville, 
which he still holds. This was a merited 
as well as gratifying tribute to his faith- 
ful and successful work as an educator. 
June 3, 1883, Mr. Zaring was married 
to Wessie Eeamer, a daughter of Jacob 
and Sophia Reamer, of Smithville, where 
she was born January 25, 1803. Her 
parents came to Ohio from Mechanics- 
burg, Penn., many years ago. Her father 
was a soldier in the Union army during 
the Civil War, and was killed in the bat- 
tle of Chancellorsville, May 2, 1803. Her 
mother is now living in Smithville. Mr. 
and Mrs. Zaring are the parents of two 
children: Ethel and Walter. Mr. Zaring 
is a member of the order of the Knights 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



53 



of the Maccabees. He is uuiversally 
recoguizecl as a gentleman of bigli prin- 
ciple, of unquestioned integrity, and as 
one of the most capable and successful 
educators in the county. 




K. FLUHAET. John and Elea- 
!J\ nor (Culbertson) Thomas were 

married in 1819, and located in 
Franklin Township, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, on the place now owned by John 
Sanderson, it then being a wilderness. 
This couple were natives of Westmoreland 
County, Penn., were married here, and 
were residents of Franklin for forty-eight 
j'ears, then removed to Nashville, where 
Mr. Thomas died. The record of their 
children is as follows: Esther married E. 
G. Jack, and now resides in Lafayette, 
Ind. ; John C. married Lottie Davis, and 
now resides in Shreve, Wayne County; 
William married May Kobison, and now 
resides in Fulton County ; Elizabeth mar- 
ried Josiah Yoter, and now resides in 
Shreve, Wayne County; Cyrus S. mar- 
ried Alvira Carr, and now resides in 
Michigan; Ebenezer married Elizabeth 
Moore, and now resides in East Union, 
Wayne County; Joseph died in 1869; and 
Margaret married A. E. Fluhart in 1850, 
and located April 10, 1867, on the farm he 



now occupies. Their children are Zach- 
eus E., John Y., Elizabeth, Cyrus M., 
Anna May, Harry C, Howard H., Ella 
M. and Jessie M. Zacheus E. married 
Emma, daughter of Joseph and Sarah 
Jane Martin, of Holmes County, and lo- 
cated in Wooster Township, Wayne 
County; they have three children: Edna 
M., Jennie Mabel and Florence Moore. 
John Y. married Mary, daughter of Elias 
and Sarah Stuckei', and moved to Mis- 
souri; they have four children: Edward 
E., Johnnie, Sadie and Ella M. Cyrus 
M. married Emma, daughter of John and 
Jane Eichards, and located in Salt Creek 
Township; they have one daughter, 
Carrie Edith. Ella M. was married in 
1888 to A. A. Geitgey. The other chil- 
dren are at the homestead, which is situ- 
ated in a delightful valley. Mr. Fluhart 
is one of the progressive farmers of his 
township, and, with his sons, is a strong 
Eepublican. Mr. and Mrs. Fluhart and 
their entire family are members of the 
Presbyterian Church. 



OLOMON E. BONEAVITZ, one of 
the best known and most prominent 
lawyers in Wayne County, is a na- 
tive of the same, born November 28, 1820, 
and is a son of John and Margaret (Eider) 



54 



WATXE COUNTY. 



Bonewitz, both of whom were natives of 
Berks County, Penn.,he comino; in 1815 to 
Wayne County as a pioneer. In 1853 he 
moved with his wife and all of their chil- 
dren, excepting Solomon K., to Wabash 
County, Ind., where he died in February, 
1885, aged ninety-two years, and his wife 
in 1860. They were the parents of eight 
children, three of whom are yet living, 
our subject being the only one now in 
Wayne County. One son resides in North 
Manchester, Ind., and one in Omaha, Neb. 
Solomon K., subject of this memoir, 
received his school training at what jubi- 
lated in its day in the high-sounding title 
of "Hayes' College," which in reality was 
only a log school-house. His life was 
spent on a farm until he was eighteen 
years old, when he commenced a clerk- 
ship in his father's dry goods store, at 
what was then known as Naftzger's Mill, 
near Burbank, in Wayne County, and 
later at Mechanicsburgh, same county, un- 
til 1844. He had married, in the mean- 
time, October 14, 1841, Miss Louisa 
Booth, of Medina County, Ohio, a lady 
of good education, who at one time was a 
teacher in the public schools, and who 
after marriage became in part her hus- 
band's instructor, stimulating him to a 
higher education. Her father, Hilen 
Booth, of Medina County, Ohio, was mar- 
ried to Sarah McCleod, and died in 1870, 
his wife having preceded him in 1860. 



Mrs. Bonewitz has one brother in Akron, 
Ohio ; another brother, who had been prom- 
inently identified with the Pittsburgh, 
Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad Company, 
having control of all the telegraph lines, 
died in 1883; one sister is the wife of 
Dr. M. K. Hard, of Wooster, Ohio, and 
another sister is Mrs. Monosmith, of Jay 
County, Ind. In 1844 Mr. and Mrs. 
Bonewitz came to Wooster, Wayne Coun- 
ty, and here he finished his law studies, 
which he had taken up and prosecuted 
while engaged in mercantile pursuits. 
In 1845 he was admitted to the bar at St. 
Clairsville, Ohio, f)racticed his profession 
in Wooster up to 1865, in which year he 
formed a partnership known as the Bon- 
ewitz, Emrich & Co. Banking House, in 
Wooster, with himself as cashier. Later 
it became the Commercial Bank of Woos- 
ter, which merged into the National Bank 
of Wooster. In 1871 Mr. Bonewitz sev- 
ered his connection with this institution, 
and devoted his entire time to the prac- 
tice of law. For two terms, commenc- 
ing in 1853, he was mayor of Wooster, 
and has been a member of the council for 
four years; he was also a justice of the 
peace six years, and filled all of the in- 
cumbencies with credit to himself and 
satisfaction of his constituents. He was 
appointed United States commissioner by 
the circuit courts of the United States, as 
recorded in the "Blue Book" at Washing- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



00 



tou, iu 1818, which office he has coutiuu- 
ously held through all political phases. 
For the past four or five years he has 
given his time and attention to the pen- 
sion business. Politically he is a Demo- 
crat. He and his wife have been mem- 
bers of the Episcopal Church since 1864. 
On January 8, 1882, Mrs. Bonewitz was 
afflicted with a severe attack of nervous 
prostration, from which she was recover- 
ing until May, 1887, when she met with 
an accident, which deprived her partly of 
the use of her limbs; in all her affliction 
she is a patient, uncomplaining sufferer. 



t--^ AMUEL SCHMUCK was born in 
Lancaster County, Penn., July 9, 
1822, a son of Henry and Eliza- 
beth (Hymiller) Schmuck. In 1832 his 
parents came to Wayne County, where 
the father died, aged seventy-three years. 
Samuel Schmuck was reared in Wayne 
County frorri the age of ten years, remain- 
ing with his parents and assisting iu the 
cultivation of the farm until his marriage, 
in 1847, with Miss Sarah Geitgey, daugh- 
ter of John Geitgey, who died, leaving one 
child, James Henry. This son died in 
1880, aged thirty-two years, leaving a 
widow and two children. January 27, 
1854, Mr. Schmuck married Mary Myers, 



daughter of Daniel and Martha Myers. 
They have four children: David Edwin, 
Sara, Ida May and Annie Mary. In 1847 
Mr. Schmuck settled on his present farm, 
which he has improved, and now has one 
of the pleasantest homes in Franklin 
Township. He has been a successful man, 
his prosperity being due to his untiring 
energy and good management. In pol- 
itics Mr. Schmuck is a Republican. Mrs. 
Schmuck's father, Daniel Myers, was a 
native of Germany, born in 1814. At 
the age of seventeen years he came to the 
United States. He was on a sailing ves- 
sel three mouths, being in the meantime 
shipwrecked twice. He located in Penn- 
sylvania, where he learned the cooper's 
trade. He married Martha (Deweese) 
Shively, and to them were born eight chil- 
dren, all of whom except one are living. 
They finally settled on a farm iu Wayne 
County, Ohio, where both died. 



DAVID McDowell, son of John 
! and Mary (Marshall) McDowell, 

natives of Washington County, 

Penn., was born December 5, 1820, in 
Sugar Creek Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. 
His parents came to Wayne County, Ohio, 
in 1819, and entered a tract of land (one 
quarter) in Sugar Creek Township, where 



56 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



they lived and died. John McDowell built 
a saw and grist mill, which he conducted 
for many years. He voted first with the 
Whig and afterward with the Eepublican 
party, and held the office of justice of the 
peace for many years ; he was also an elder 
in the Seceder Church. He died January 
2, 1872, and his wife November 25, 1873. 
Their family consisted of eleven children, 
and of them the only ones now living are 
as follows: Elijah, in Indiana ; Luther, in 
Sugar Creek Township, Wayne County; 
David; Sarah, wife of Samuel Anderson, 
of Dalton, Ohio, and Mary, wife of John 
Porter, residing near Fulton, Ohio. 

David McDowell, whose name heads 
this sketch, received his education in the 
log schoolhouse of his day. In 1847 he 
married Mary Ann, daughter of Samuel 
Bell, of Sugar Creek Township, Wayne 
County, and they remained on the home- 
stead until 1868, in which year he pur- 
chased his present farm of 200 acres, in 
Sugar Creek Township, Wayne County, 
where he has since been engaged in farm- 
ing and stock raising. Eight of his chil- 
dren are living, as follows: J. Marshall, 
in Sugar Creek Township, Wayne County; 
Samuel A., in Nebraska; Nathaniel C, in 
Sugar Creek Township; Gibson and Ed- 
win, at home; Laura, now Mrs. Fred Am- 
mann, of Orrville, Ohio; Violet, now Mrs. 
Clark Stuck, of Mount Eaton, Ohio, and 
Emma, now Mrs. Albert Arnold, in Sugar 



Creek Township. Mr. McDowell is a 
Republican, and has held the office of 
school director. He and his family are 
members of the Dalton United Presby- 
terian Church. 



B 



EV. JOHN K. YODEE, bishop of 
^ the Amish Mennonite Church, 
-^ lives on Section 22, in Green 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, his 
postoffice address being Orrville, Ohio. 
He comes of a family who have been 
residents of this country since before the 
Revolutionary War. His grandfather, 
who was brought to this country by his 
parents when quite young, was the oldest 
of the family, and to help his parents and 
pay for his passage he was bound out to a 
farmer in Berks County, Penn., serving 
until he was twenty-one years of age. 
He married Magdalena Yoder, who, al- 
though of the same name, was not a rela- 
tive, and afterward removed to Mifflin 
County, Penn., where he died. His wife 
survived him many years, reaching an ad- 
vanced age, and her descendants at the 
time of her death numbered nearly 200. 
Their children were three sous and five 
daughters, none of whom are now living. 
The father of John K. Yoder, also 
named John, the eldest of this family, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



57 



was boru in Mifflin County, Penn., in 
1786, and died in the house of our sub- 
ject in 1855, in his seventieth year. He 
was a farmer in Pennsylvania, but retired 
from active life a few years before coming 
to Ohio, to spend the remaining years of 
his life with his son. He was married to 
Mary King, a native of Berks, but 
reared in Mifflin County, Penn. She 
was born in 1790, and died in 1866, in 
her seventy-seventh year, having sur- 
vived her husband eleven years. John 
Toder had always borne the character of 
an upright and honest man, a useful mem- 
ber of the Amish Mennonite Church, and 
of the community in which he lived. 
He and his wife were the parents of four 
children: Jacob, who was married to 
Annie Yoder, removed from Pennsyl- 
vania to Mahoning County, Ohio, and 
from there to Michigan, where he died, 
his wife dying in Missouri; Magdalena 
is the widow of John Plank, who re- 
moved first to Logan County, Ohio, and 
thence to Michigan, where he died, and 
where his widow yet lives; Christian K. 
is married to Catherine Plank, and is a 
farmer and a minister of the Amish 
Mennonite Church of Logan County, 
Ohio; John K., who was the third in 
order of birth, was born in Mifflin County, 
Penn., January 21, 1824. He was 
brought up on the farm, and lived with 
his parents until after his marriage. 



when he removed to another farm in the 
same county. There he lived for ten 
years, until 1855, when he removed to 
Ohio, buying the farm which has ever 
since been his home. May 5, 1850, while 
still in Pennsylvania, Mr. Yoder was 
selected by lot as a minister of his church. 
He discharged his duties with such zeal 
and fidelity that in October, 1859, he was 
elected by ballot by the congregation to the 
high and holy officeof bishopof the church, 
having oversight of the churches of the 
district, and also preaching regularly. In 
Mifflin County, Penn., on January 9, 
1845, Mr. Yoder was married to Lydia 
Zook, who was born there March 18, 
1827, and died at their Ohio home Sep- 
tember 20, 1887, after a long and serious 
illness, which she bore with the patience 
and resignation of a Christian, hoping 
for immortality. She was a faithful wife 
and devoted mother, and discharged with 
fidelity her duties in all the relations of 
life. She passed from this life to the re- 
ward which awaits those who faithfully 
believe in Him " who doeth all things 
well." Mr. and Mrs. Yoder were the 
parents of three children who lived be- 
yond infancy. They are Christian Z., of 
whom further mention is made below; 
Mary Z., deceased, who was the wife of 
Jacob N. Yoder, of Green Township, 
and David Z., married to Mary Ann 
Smiley, a farmer in the same township. 



58 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



The Oak Grove Amish Menuouite Church, 
for which Mr. Toder has preached so 
long, is the first of the denomination 
organized in this part of the country. 
At first services were hekl in private 
houses, the present church edifice being 
built in 1862. It has now a membership 
of between 400 and 500, which is about 
the seating caj)acity of the audience room, 
which is 43x55, with two rooms attached 
which can be used as an addition. Sun- 
day-school services are held every other 
Sunday, the alternate Sundays being de- 
voted to the Sunday-school of Pleasant 
Hill Church, in the adjoining town of 
Milton. The services of Mr. Yoder have 
been very acceptable and of great ben- 
efit to the people under his spiritual 
charge. We are pleased to record this 
tribute to the worth of one whose life 
for many years has been spent in the serv- 
ice of the Master, and whose walk and 
conversation have ever been blameless 
and worthy of praise. 

Christian Z. Yoder, the eldest son, 
was born in Mifiliu County, Penn., No- 
vember 28, 1845, and was therefore in his 
tenth year when his parents came to Ohio. 
He has followed farming all his lifetime. 
He was married in October, 1808, to 
Lydia, daughter of John and Mary 
Smiley. She was born in Elkhart 
County, Ind., December 5, 184(5, and 
came with her parents to Wayne County 



in 1867. They settled on a farm adjoin- 
ing Mrs. Smiley's home, and there her 
father died, and there her mother yet 
lives. Mr. and Mrs. Yoder are the par- 
ents of eight children, all yet under the 
parental roof. They are named John 
Smiley, David Amasa, Rufus Melviu, 
Menno Simon, Ora Christian, Mary 
Emma, Joseph Daniel, and an infant yet 
unnamed. Since the organization of the 
Sunday-school attached to the Oak Grove 
Church Mr. Yoder has been, with the 
exception of one term, its superintendent, 
and has taken a very warm interest in its 
affairs, and has been unceasing in his ef- 
forts for its advancement and for the 
religious growth of its attendants. To 
him much credit is due for the flourish- 
ing condition of the school. Its attend- 
ance at times is as high as 300, averag- 
ing about 250, and never, recently, has 
fallen as low as 200, a truly gratifying 
reward to all who have labored in the 
cause. 



E 



UGENE GROSJEAN, son of John 
P. and Frances Grosjean, was born 
in Switzerland, in 1824. His 
parents immigrated to America in 1883, 
and located in Paint Township, Wayne 
Co., Ohio, where they were engaged 
in farming. Their family consisted of 



ten children: Frances, Frederick, Ferdi- 
nand, Ellen, Mary, Sophia, Julia, Eugene, 
and two that died in infancy. Of these, 
Frances married Jacob So3'er, and died 
in Wayne County; Frederick is a resident 
of France; Ferdinand located in Indiana, 
where he died; Ellen died at the age of 
nineteen years; Mary married A. Flory, 
removed to Indiana, and is now deceased; 
Sophia is now Mrs. Vol Steinmetz, of 
Coshocton County, Ohio; Julia was the 
late Mrs. John Webber, of Indiana. 

Eugene was reared in Wayne County, 
and in 1840 married Eugenie, daughter of 
Charles E. Grosjean. He located in Paint 
Township, Wayne County, where he re- 
mained until 1854, when he came to Salt 
Creek Township, Wayne County, and 
purchased a farm, which he disposed of, 
and in 1861 bought the property he now 
owns. Here he and his wife reared a 
family of eight children: Albert, Julia, 
Mary, Charles, Louis, So[)hia, Eugene A. 
and Ellen. Of these, Albert married 
Ellen, daughter of William Sauers, and is 
a farmer in Salt Creek Township, Wayne 
County, near Maysville ; Julia is now 
Mrs. Merian Winn, of Cedar Rapids, 
Iowa; Mary is Mrs. John Mackey, of 
Salt Creek Township, Wayne County; 
Charles is at present a resident of San 
Francisco, Cal. ; Louis is married to Eliz- 
abeth Leper, and settled in Holmes 
County; Sophia died when a child of nine 



years of age; Eugene A. is a resident of 
San Francisco, Cal., and Ellen remains at 
home. Mr. and Mrs. Grosjean are mem- 
bers of the Congregational Church. In 
politics he is a Democrat. His life niav 
fairly be said to have been a success, and 
he is justly recognized as one of the able, 
representative men of the township. 



i\H L. SMYSER. Among the best 
1^1 known and popular citizens of 

j -^ Wayne County is the subject of this 
sketch, although yet but a young 
man. He was born in Wayne County, 
Ohio, April 3, 1851. His father, Emanuel 
Smyser, who was of German extraction, 
and spent his life as a farmer, came to 
Wayne County in 1832, from York County, 
Penn., and in 1875 he passed from eartli. 
He married Catherine Albert, who bore 
him eight children, of whom seven still 
live, six in Wayne County and one in 
Detroit, Mich. He was an active Repub- 
lican, and held the offices of assessor and 
township trustee. 

M. L. Smyser, the subject of this bio- 
graphical memoir, spent his early life upon 
the farm until fourteen years of age, 
when he was sent to Wittenbei-g Col- 
lege, at Springfield, Ohio, from which he 
graduated in 1870. Returning to his 



60 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



native couuty, be began reading law in tbe 
office of Lyman E. Critcbfield, and in 
April, 1872, be was admitted to tbe bar 
at Columbus, by tbe supreme court of 
Ohio, and immediately opened an office in 
Wooster. In tbe fall of 1S72 be was 
elected prosecuting attorney of Wayne 
County; in 1873 be formed a partnership 
with Capt. A. S. McClure, which partner- 
ship still continues. He has always been 
a stanch Republican; in 1884 he was an 
alternate delegate to the Chicago Repub- 
lican Convention; in 1888 be was sent as 
a regular delegate, and tbe same year 
received tbe nomination for Congressman 
in the Twentieth District, and was elected 
to the List Congress by 2,000 majority. 
In 1881 Mr. Smyser was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Alice A. France, daughter 
of J. B. and Amy France, and a native of 
Wayne County, of which her father had 
formerly been sheriff. She is a graduate 
of tbe Delaware Female College. 



DR. JOHN A. GANN was born at 
j Waterford, N. Y., in 1848. His 

father, James J. Gann, was by 

birth an Englishman, and came to Amer- 
ica in 1847. The paternal grandfather 
also came to America, tbe grandmother 
having died in Europe. The father of 



our subject was by trade a miller, which 
be learned in England. Before starting 
to America he was wedded to Elizabeth 
Adams, and together they came to the 
New World. In 18(31, at Monroeville, 
Ohio, where they had settled, the father 
passed to bis last sleep. Of their wedded 
life only two children were born, John A. 
and Lizzie (Mrs. Durbin Metz, of Woos- 
ter, Ohio). 

At fourteen years of age the subject 
of this biographical memoir left the 
common schools which he had been at- 
tending, and engaged as a clerk, in which 
capacity he continued four years, and then 
entered tbe Ohio Wesleyan University at 
Delaware, Ohio, where be graduated in 
1871. He then became superintendent 
of tbe public schools at Shelby, Ohio, and 
remained four years, when be turned bis 
attention to tbe study of medicine at 
Cleveland Homoeopathic Medical College, 
graduating from there in 1877. He prac- 
ticed a short time in Berea, and then 
came in March, 1877, to Wooster, where 
he has since made his home. In 1884 
tbe doctor was united in marriage with 
Anna Metz, daughter of Jacob and Susan 
Metz, and a native of Wooster, Ohio, 
where she graduated from the high school 
in 1870. She is a member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church and Woman's 
Foreign Missionary Society. Dr. Gann 
is president of the State Medical Society 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



61 



and lecturer on physiology at the Cleveland 
Ilomoeopathic College; is a member of 
the Odd Fellows order, Independent Order 
of Red Men, Knights of Pythias, Royal 
Arcanum and Chosen Friends. In politics 
he is a Republican. He is a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church of Woos- 
ter. His home is on North Market Street, 
where his aged mother resides with him. 



IDNET J. FRYER, son of William 
and Elizabeth Fryer, was born in 
1862, in Scott Township, Alle- 
gheny Co., Penn., where he received the 
chief portion of his education. His father 
died in 1868, and his mother in 1874, 
when he was but twelve years of age, 
leaving him heir to a fine estate, and 
practically the arbiter of his own destiny. 
There were two others in his parents' 
family besides himself: William, who 
resides on the old homestead, and Jona- 
than, now deceased. The grandfather, 
William Fryer, who was a native Ameri- 
can, and pioneer of Western Pennsylvania, 
purchased the old Bower Hill farm at a 
very early time, and here lived until his 
death, which occurred in his ninetieth 
year. This farm was prominent as being 
the battle-field during the "whisky in- 



surrection," and there is to be found an 
old still-house yet standing. This was 
heavily undermined with coal, which the 
subject of this sketch sold, retaining the 
farm. With the proceeds of the sale of 
coal he purchased two large farms in 
Clinton Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
one of 137 acres, and one of 111. In 
1884 he married Laura Hastings, of 
Holmes County, Ohio, and settled on the 
farm where he now lives. Mr. and Mrs. 
Fryer are members of the Methodist 
Church. Politically he is identified with 
the Republican party. 




JLLIAM J. LANCE is a son of 
Henry and Elizabeth (Hoffstat- 
— ' ter) Lance, and was born in 
Milton Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, De- 
cember 10, 1834. Christopher Lance, 
his grandfather, a native of Germany, 
married in New Jersey, wliere Henry 
Lance was born, and afterward settled in 
Jefferson County, Ohio. In 1819 Henry 
and James Lance came to Wayne County, 
Ohio, and entered a tract of land in Mil- 
ton Township, where they engaged in 
farming, and in connection operated a dis- 
tillery. Henry Lance married for his 
first wife Lucy Lee, and by her had five 



62 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



children, three of whom are liriug: Chris- 
topher, Catherine (widow of Isaac Wekly), 
Jane (widow of Henry Zeigler), all in 
Milton Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. By 
his second wife, nee Elizabeth HofPstatter, 
he had children, as follows: William J.; 
John and Abraham, in Milton Township, 
Wayne Co. ; Elizabeth, wife of Allen 
Walker, in Michigan, and Teressa, wife 
of Isaac Grossman, also in Michigan. 
Henry Lance died April 21, 1862. 

William J. Lance, our subject, was 
educated in the schools of his township, 
and has always followed farming, having 
lived on his present farm in Milton Town- 
ship since 1864. In 1862 he married 
Miss Clara M., daughter of Daniel John- 
son, of Milton Township, Wayne County, 
and she died in ISS-l, leaving seven chil- 
dren, one of whom has since died. Those 
now living are Alfred D., married to Miss 
Hannah Chatman, and residing in Mich- 
igan; Edwin R., married to Sarah, daugh- 
ter of Johnston Swagler, and residing in 
Milton Township; Medwin H., Winfred, 
Daniel Dewitt and Viva Mabel, all at 
home. Mr. Lance took for his second 
wife Mrs. Annie Swagler, widow of Jona- 
than Swagler. He has since served as 
constable for one year, trustee for five 
years, also school director, supervisor, etc. 
He is a member of Sterling Lodge No. 
1818, Royal Arcanum, and is a trustee 
and deacon in the Baptist Church. 



f- 



ii NTHONY WRIGHT. This re- 
\\ spected citizen of Wayne County 
-^ was born in Loudoun County, Va., 
June 26, 1S15. His father, also 
named Anthony, was of English extraction, 
and died in 1818, at the age of seventy-five 
years. He was a member of the society 
of Friends, or Quakers, and was married 
to Elizabeth Harper, also a native of Vir- 
ginia, who died in Wayne County, Ohio, 
in 1864, aged eighty-eight years. 

John Harper, the maternal grand- 
father of our subject, was a patriot soldier 
during the Revolution, and died in Vir- 
ginia about the year 1828; his widow 
came to Wayne County, where she died 
about 1843. 

The subject of these lines had but lim- 
ited opportunities for education, and when 
eighteen years old was ajjprenticed to 
learn the trade of brick-laying. When 
about twenty years of age he came to 
Wayne County, and for a time worked in 
different places as a clerk. In 1850 he 
removed to St. Louis, where for three 
yeai's he was engaged in the banking busi- 
ness, returning to Wooster in 1853. Two 
years later (in 1855) he was married to 
Elizabeth, daughter of John and Sarah 
Walter, and a native of Berkeley County, 
now a part of West Virginia. When she 
was two years old her parents came to 
Wooster, where they passed the remainder 
of their days. Her father was a German 



.~«i8«£5g¥^ 




9^ 







^^- 




~*^ ^ "^s^^^S ■^ 



^Y^Z^-^^^7^ J4^i 




WAYNE COUNTY. 



65 



by extraction, and was born on the high 
seas. Mr. and Mrs. Wright had two chil- 
dren, twins, one of whom died unnamed; 
the other, Sarah Elizabeth, is the wife of 
J. M. Quiuby, of Wooster. The mother 
of these children died in 1881, aged fifty- 
six j'ears. 

Anthony Wright was by inheritance a 
slave-owner, but upon leaving Virginia 
set his one slave free, telling him he was 
a free man. The law of Virginia at that 
time said that any person desiring to man- 
umit a slave must give security for his 
good behavior. Not being of age he 
could not do this, but his slave lived and 
died a free man, nevertheless. 

Mr. Wright is in politics a Eepublican, 
and has been elected to various positions 
of trust in the county. He has been 
county treasurer, was mayor of the village 
of Wooster previous to its becoming a 
city, and has several times been a member 
of the council. He is a member of the 
K. of P., and for forty-two years has been 
prominently identified with the I. O. O. 
F., having held offices in that body which, 
taken singly, would aggregate over 100 
years. He was for thirty years secretary 
of his lodge ; for fifteen years treasurer of 
the Grand Encampment of Ohio, a posi- 
tion he still holds, and has been represent- 
ative to the Grand Lodge a number of 
years, besides holding other positions in 
the order. His success in life is solely 



due to his own efforts and to his business 
ability and tact, and his sterling charac- 
ter has caused him to be universally es- 
teemed. 




,ILLIAM WILSON, son of James 
and Jane (Fife) Wilson, natives 
of Allegheny County, Penn., was 
born on the homestead in Sugar Creek 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, January 
24, 1830. His parents came to Wayne 
County, Ohio, in 1822, and settled on the 
farm now owned by their son William, 
which land was entered by William Wil- 
son, the grandfather of our subject. 
James Wilson died in 1872, and his 
widow in 1874. Five children were born 
to this coiiple, viz. : John, who was mur- 
dered in Kansas; Isabella, who died in 
1847; William; Mary, wife of John AVea- 
ver, of Richland County, Ohio; Sarah 
Jane, wife of Jonah Creits, of Ashtabula, 
Ohio. 

Of these, William, whose name heads 
this sketch, attended the common schools, 
and has always followed farming in 
Sugar Creek Township, Wayne County. 
In 1864 he enlisted in Company E, One 
Hundred and Sixty-ninth Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry, and served one hundred days. 
In 1874 he married Miss Letitia, daughter 



66 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



of Jonah Fife, of Columbiana County, 
Ohio, and they have one child, Emerson 
S., residing at home. Mr. Wilson is a 
member of the Republican party, and has 
served as school director, supervisor, etc., 
of the township. He and his wife are 
members of the Dalton Presbyterian 
Church. 




M. OHL, grocer and dealer in hard- 
ware and queeusware at Smithville, 
Ohio, is a native of Manchester, 
Summit Co., Ohio, born May 9, 
1862. His grandparents on the paternal 
side, Henry and Susannah Ohl, came 
fi-om Pennsylvania to Summit County at 
an early day, and were among the pioneers 
of that county, the men and women who 
reclaimed the land from the wilderness and 
helped to place Ohio iu the proud rank 
she holds among the most prosperous and 
influential States in the Union. Henry 
Ohl was a resident of Summit County for 
more than sixty years, and died there at 
the age of eighty-two years; his wife, 
Susannah, also lived to an advanced age. 
With the single exception of his father 
all of Mr. Ohl's ancestors were long-lived 
people. On his maternal side his grand- 
parents were also from Pennsylvania, and 
they too were of these sturdy pioneers 



of Summit County, where both are yet 
living, each being ninety years of age. 
They had nine children, and had lived in 
Manchester more than fifty years, and had 
celebrated their golden wedding some 
years before a death had occurred in their 
family. 

The father of A. M. Ohl, and who was 
named Solomon, was born in Trumbull 
County, Ohio, August 26, 1828. After 
his marriage he moved to Manchester, 
where he lived the rest of his lifetime, 
dying January 19, 1869, when but forty 
years old. He was a carriage builder, and 
carried on that business in Manchester 
until his death. He was a man of strict 
religious principles, a member of the 
German Reformed Church, in which he 
was both deacon and elder. He was an 
honest and upright man, and had the 
! respect of every one who knew him. 
Mrs. Ohl was born in Summit County, 
January, 13, 1832, and is still living iu 
Manchester, and is now the wife of Jacob 
H. Myers, of that place. The only child 
of Solomon and Anna Ohl was the subject 
of this sketch. He was but five years 
ohl when his father died, and he continued 
to live with his mother until he was 
twenty-one. He learned and worked at 
many trades. Fii'st he tried blacksmithiug, 
which he gave up to become a teacher of 
penmanship. He next tried painting in 
oils, and afterward house painting, then 



butchering, and next kept a grocery. His 
next venture was in keeping a dry goods 
store in Orrville, this county, for more 
than a year ; then sold out and moved to 
Smithville, April 1, 1888. There he 
has the largest and best stocked grocery 
and hardware store in the town, carrying 
a full stock of all goods in this line. 

December 17, 1885, Mr. Ohl married 
Miss Mary J. Fike, daughter of George 
and Catharine Fike, of Greene Township, 
Wayne County. Mrs. Ohl was born in 
Wayne County, October 14, 1865. Mr. 
Ohl is an enterprising young man, of 
much push and energy and much versa- 
tility, who can turn his hand to almost 
anything and has always been successful. 
He bears an excellent reputation for 
honesty and trustworthiness as a business 
man and citizen. 



ANIEL LANGELL is a son of 
Leonard and Catherine (Ehine- 
hart) Langell, and was born July 
9, 1832, on the homestead in East Union 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. Casper 
Langell, the grandfather of our subject, 
was a native of Berks County, Penn., 
and a settler in Columbiana County, 
Ohio. He came to Wayne County 
about 1815, and purchased a one-half 



section of laud, which is now occupied by 
the town of Apple Creek. He was an 
active business man, and prominent in 
the interest of the Lutheran Church. He 
gave the land and helped to erect the 
Presbyterian Church of which he after- 
ward became a member. Returning to 
Columbiana County, he there died. Leon- 
ard, his sou, was born in Berks County, 
Penn., in 1800. He was brought to Co- 
lumbiana County when three years of age, 
and came to Wayne County with his 
parents. He remained on the homestead 
for some years, but finally moved to an- 
other farm one mile southwest, where he 
died in 1859. In many ways he was a 
prominent man. He erected the first 
grist-mill in this portion of the county, 
which was afterward converted into a 
woolen factory. A Democrat in politics, 
he took an active interest in the affairs 
of the party. He was an elder in the 
Lutheran Church of Franklin Township 
for many years. His family consisted 
of five children: J. Casper was killed by 
a runaway team of horses in 1882; Su- 
sanna is also deceased ; Elias lives in 
East Union Township; Henry lives in 
Franklin Township; and Daniel. 

The subject of these lines was reared 
on the farm, and followed that occupation 
until failure of his health, in 1864, when 
he moved into Apple Creek. He was 
troubled with asthma, and in 1867 die- 



68 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



covered the medicine which he has since 
manufactured, and is now widely known 
as " Lansell's Asthma and Catarrh 
Kemedy." December 3, 1857, he became 
united in marriage with Miss Margaret, 
daughter of Andrew Sloan, of Salt Creek 
Township, Wayne County. Sis children 
have been born to them, as follows: 
Leonard, who died in 1884 at the age of 
twenty -four; Esther, Mrs. Frank S. Lo- 
gan, of Ashland County, who has two 
children — Leonard and Grace; Charlotte 
Elizabeth, William Carl, Carrie Lavenia 
and John Truesdale, at home. Mr. Lau- 
gell is a Democrat, and has held several 
township offices; at the present time he 
is notary public and mayor of the vil- 
lage of Apple Creek. He and his family 
are members of the Presbyterian Church. 




F. MOWERY, M. D., was born in 
Chester Township, Wayne County, 
Ohio, in the year 1860, and is a son 
of David R. and Mary Ann (Church- 
man) Mowery, the former of whom was 
born January 8, 1828, also in Chester 
Township, Wayne County, and the latter 
near Wooster, November 2, 1828. They 
were married in 1840, and were blessed 
with four sons: William H., A. F., L-vin 
Q. and H. N. The parents of this family 



are still living in Chester Township, 
engaged in agricultural pursuits. The 
subject of this biography attended the 
Northern Ohio Normal School at Smith- 
ville, and, graduating from there entered 
Ada Normal School, where he studied 
one year, taking courses in music and 
literary branches. From Ada he removed 
to Wooster University, in 1882, where he 
took a general scientific course for one 
year, after which he entered the office of 
Dr. Leander Firestone, with whom he 
studied medicine two years. The Doctor 
graduated from the medical department of 
Wooster University, at Cleveland, Ohio, 
March 16, 1886, and located at Eeeds- 
burgh. Plain Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
May 18, 1886, and has since here success- 
fully practiced medicine and surgery. 
The Doctor was married, November 29, 
1888, to Miss Edna L. Mowery, of Reeds- 
burgh, Ohio. In politics he is a Demo- 
crat. He attends the services of Grace 
Reformed Church. 



JOHN A. DYER was born in Massa- 
chusetts, October 5, 1832. In 1853 
he moved to Cuyahoga County, 
Ohio, and engaged in milling, afterward 
acting as agent for the Cleveland & Pitts- 
burgh Railroad for thirteen years, when 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



69 



he located at Creston, Wayne County, and 
embarked in the warehouse business, in 
which he continued until 1883. In 1882 
the Creston Milling Company was organ- 
ized and incorporated, with J. H. Free- 
man, president; W. B. Stebbins, treas- 
urer, and John A. Dyer, secretary and 
general manager. The wife of Mr. Dyer 
was Emeline, daughter of S. S. Hastings, 
one of the early settlers of Medina County, 
Ohio. Mr. Dyer is a member of the Re- 
publican party, and was elected justice of 
the peace of Canaan Township, but after 
serving two years he resigned. He is a 
member of Cataract Lodge 295, 1. O. O. F., 
of Newburgh, Ohio, and is an elder in the 
Presbyterian Church. Mr. Dyer stands 
high in the estimation of the community 
in which he lives, and enjoys the confi- 
dence of the people. 



I, ^ AMUEL HARRISON MILLER, 

manufacturer of agricultural imple- 
ments, Doylestown, Ohio, was born 
in Northampton County, Penn., May 28, 
1889, a son of John and Susan (Bauer) 
Miller, natives also of Northampton 
County, his father born November 15, 
1802, and his mother born October 29, 
1798. In May, 1843, his parents moved 
to Summit County, Ohio, and settled in 



Norton Township, where his father still 
lives. His mother died March 7, 1886. 
They had a family of twelve children, 
eight of whom — three sons and five daugh- 
ters — are still living. Samuel H. Miller 
was reared in Summit County, Ohio, and 
was given good educational advantages, 
attending the district schools, and later 
the Akron High School. He remained on 
the farm until twelve years of age, and 
then obtained employment as clerk in a 
dry goods store at Akron, which he fol- 
lowed sis years, and in 1857 returned to 
the farm in Norton Township, where he 
remained about six years. December 15, 
1863, he came to Doylestown, and for two 
years was employed as clerk by Cline, 
Seiberliug & Hower, manufacturers of 
i-eapers and mowers. September 1, 1865, 
he became a member of the firm of Cline, 
Seiberliug & Co., which was subsequently 
changed to Seiberliug, Miller & Co. This 
is one of the largest manufacturing estab- 
lishments of the kind in the county, and 
they employ a number of hands, and in 
connection with J. F. Seiberliug & Co., of 
Akron, Ohio, have entire control of the 
manufacture of the Empire mowers, 
reapers and self-binders, which are sold 
in every State in the Union. Mi*. Miller 
was married August 29, 1867, to Ella L. 
Schneider, who was born in Montgomery 
County, Penn., January 27, 1847, a daugh- 
ter of Alfred and Clarissa (Clewell) 



70 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Schneider, both natives of Pennsylvania, 
her father of Montgomery County, born 
March 1, 1813, and her mother of North- 
ampton County, born September 14, 1820. 
They moved to Norton Township, Summit 
Co., Ohio, in 1852, and still reside there. 
Of a family of seven children, six daugh- 
ters are living. 

Mr. and Mrs. Miller have had a family 
of eight children, of whom four — Alfred 
J., William E., Sydney L. and Lucile M. — 
are living. In politics Mr. Miller is a 
supporter of the principles of the Repub- 
lican party, but is in no sense a politician 
or office seeker, the only public office he 
ever held being that of member of the 
Board of Education, and village treasurer. 
He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran 
Church, but is not a member of any 
religious denomination. 



OLOMON S. FIRESTONE is a 
representative of one of the most 
prominent families of Wayne Coun- 
ty, Ohio. His parents were David and 
Elizabeth (Rice) Firestone, the latter 
being a daughter of Christian and Char- 
lotte (Hine) Rice. The family of David 
Firestone consisted of eight children, viz. : 
Lydia, John, Rice, David R., Simon B., Sol- 
omon S., Jacob H. and Peter C. The fath- 



er was a farmer, and at his death owned a 
valuable farm of 130 acres, which is now 
the property of his youngest son, Peter C. 
He was a representative citizen of Wayne 
County, but died before his fond hopes for 
its future were realized, his death occur- 
ring September 25, 1851, when in the 
pi'ime of his vigorous manhood, being 
only forty-two years of age. He left a 
large family of children (the eldest, the 
only daughter, being but fifteen years old ) 
in care of the devoted wife, who with the 
love of a faithful mother cared for the 
children and lived to see them all arrive 
to the years of majority, married and com- 
fortably located on valuable farms of their 
own. The wife remained a widow, and 
died March 24, 1884, aged seventy-three 
years. 

Solomon S. Firestone, the subject of 
our sketch, is a native of Wayne Coun- 
ty, and in the common schools of the 
county of his birth received his early ed- 
ucation, supplementing it by attending 
the academies at Hayesville, Smithville 
and Fredericksburgh. For twelve years 
he devoted the greater part of his time to 
school-teaching, and, by an economical use 
of his earnings and with what he inherited 
from his parents' estate, became the owner 
of 130 acres of valuable land, to which he 
now gives his attention, and, under his 
skillful management, it is becoming one 
of the best farms in his township. Mr. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



71 



Firestone is one of the respected citizens 
of Chester Township, and has served a 
number of years as justice of the peace, 
although he has no aspirations for polit- 
ical honors. He has been a faithful serv- 
ant for his fellow-townsmen, who regard 
him with the esteem he justly merits. He 
was married in 1878 to Miss Alice Mc- 
Fadden, daughter of William McFadden, 
of Chester Township. To them have been 
born two children, John A. and Luther Z. 
Mr. and Mrs. Firestone are members of the 
Lutheran Church. In politics he affiliates 
with the Democratic party. 



ll If ENRY BAUM, one of the successful 
rpl practical farmers of Wayne Town- 
J) -" ship, is a native of Berks County, 
Penn., where he was born in 1823. 
He is the son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Van 
Reed ) Baum, who were the parents of nine 
children, eight of whom are living. Daniel 
Baiim was a farmer in Berks County, and 
later in life engaged in merchandising. 
He was pronounced an honest and vipright 
man by all who knew him. Henry Baum 
was educated in the public schools of his 
native county, and has followed the voca- 
tion of a farmer ever since he left his 
father's home. In 18-K) he was married 
to Elizabeth Zacharias, daughter of 



Daniel Zacharias, of Pennsylvania. Nine 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Baum, as follows: Mandilla, William, 
Daniel, Charles (deceased), Henry, 
Maberry (deceased), Emma, Kate and 
Mary Sarah. 

Mr. Henry Baum came to Wayne 
County in 1863, with his wife and family, 
and bought 160 acres of land in Wayne 
Township. He has since made several 
additional purchases, and now owns 179 
acres of land. He once owned the farm 
now occupied by the Children's Home of 
Wayne County, which he sold to the 
count}' commissioners. Mi'. Baum has 
been successful in business affairs, and is 
now the owner of as fine and comfortable 
a home as any farmer in Wayne Town- 
ship. He is a member of the Reformed 
Church, and in politics is a Democrat. 
He possesses the esteem and cordial good- 
will of all who know him. 



AMUEL SAURER was born in 

Jj\ Switzerland, September 27, 1825, 
son of John and Elizabeth (Plucks) 
Saurer, who immigrated to America in 
1828, being sixty days on the ocean. 
From New York they went to Cleveland, 
Ohio, and from there by wagon to Wayne 
County, where they located on a farm in 



72 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Sugar Creek Township, and there lived 
the remainder of their days. Samuel 
Saurer, the subject of this biographical 
memoir, was reared on this homestead, 
and was early put to hard work. His 
education was conducted in German, and 
he was unable to read or write English. 
In 1868 he purchased his present fine 
farm at Moscow, on the State road, where 
be has since resided. In 18i9 he mar- 
ried Miss Gertrude Cooper, of Sugar 
Creek Township, Wayne County, and by 
this union there are four children, viz. : 
John, in Orrville, Ohio, married to Marj' 
Graber; Josephine, now Mrs. John Lu- 
genbiihl, of Dalton, Ohio; Ella, now Mrs. 
George Shultz, also of Dalton, and Min- 
nie, now Mrs. Melviu Bechtel, of Orr- 
ville, Ohio. Mrs. Saurer died April 10, 
1889. Mr. Saurer and family are mem- 
bers of the Orrville German Reformed 
Church; politically he is a Democrat. 




,1 LBERT McFADDEN was born 
l\ about three miles east of Wooster, 



Wayne Co., Ohio, December 3, 1817. 
In the old log school-house, and by 
the old-fashioned tallow dips, his rudiment- 
ary education was received, and of such a 
primitive nature was it that he never saw 
the inside of a grammar or geography 
until he was seventeen years of age. As 



Mr. Albert McFadden quaintly expresses 
himself, he was " born in a log cabin, 
rocked in a sugar trough, clad in linsey- 
woolsey, and schooled in the old log school- 
house. " He was brought up entirely to 
farm life, and at the age of twenty -one 
began for himself on the old homestead. 

When twenty-six he took to himself a life 
partner in the person of Sarah Notestine, 
only daughter of Jonas and Elizabeth 
(Sumner) Notestine, of Canaan Town- 
ship, Wayne Co., Ohio, and to this union 
have been born three children, Nancy, 
Mary and Laura, the latter now Mrs. 
Newton P. Garrettson, of Topeka, Kas. 
About 1865 Mr. McFadden moved into 
tlie city of Wooster with his family, in 
order to have his daughters educated 
there, and after four years they returned 
to the farm. In the spring of 1881 he 
purchased his present pleasant home near 
Wooster, having retired from active Life, 
and here in the bosom of his amiable 
family he has since dwelt. Mr. McFad- 
den's success in life is due entirely to his 
assiduous application to work and untiring 
energy. When a young man he studied 
so closely that, in spite of the many ob- 
stacles he encountered in his efforts to 
obtain a good education, he made himself 
competent to fill the position of school- 
teacher. He was Wayne County's cor- 
responding secretary of the Ohio Cen- 
tennial Celebration, a position he filled 




uftk^i^ 



r^'/v 



v{ ''&^aJ?{A£/l^^^__ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



75 



with emiueut success, aud he was also 
oue of the commissioners. 

Albert McFadden is the oldest pioneer 
member of the Lutheran Church at 
AVooster, except his wife, who became 
identified with it one year before he did, 
having joined in 1840. Politically he 
was originally an Abolitionist, and has 
since been a strong Republican, having 
voted for both of the Harrisons — in ISiO 
and 1888, respectively. He is a strong 
advocate of the temperance cause, though 
not a member of the Prohibition party. 
His mind has ever been as active as his 
body, and since passing the age of three 
score and ten he has learned to play the 
flute, not by any means the simplest of 
musical instruments. He was one of the 
organizers of the Pioneer Association, 
having written the first notice; was four 
years president of the same, and at pres- 
ent is corresponding secretary and treas- 
urer. In his leisure hours Mr. McFadden 
has designed a genealogical tree, giving 
the family data for one hundred years 
back, by which we find that grandfather 
McFadden came to America in 177-1, and 
that our subject's parents both died on 
the old homestead, the father in 1849, at 
the age of seventy-five years, the mother 
April 7, 1874, when ninety-six years old; 
she had lived on the homestead sixty years, 
and for over eighty years was a member 
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. 



AMUEL SNYDER was born in 
Washington County, Md., October 
9, 1820, a son of Anthony and 
Rebecca (Newman) Snyder, who were 
natives of Franklin County, Penu. They 
moved from Washington County, Md., in 
1836 to Stark County, Ohio, thence in 
1844 to Knox County, Ohio, where the 
father died April 10, 18(37, and the mother 
in March, 1875. They reared nine chil- 
dren, eight of whom are still living: 
Samuel ; Daniel, in Allen County, Ind. ; 
Elizabeth, unmarried, residing in Cham- 
paign County, Ohio ; Rebecca, wife of Dr. 
Ayres, of Horner, Knox Co., Ohio; Jon- 
athan, in Mount Liberty, Knox Co., Ohio; 
David C, in Kansas City, Mo.; and Will- 
iam B. and Franklin, in Knox County, 
Ohio. 

Of these, Samuel was reared on the 
farm and attended the district schools 
of Stark County, Ohio. At an early ago 
he learned the trade of a carriage maker, 
which occupation he has since followed. 
He has lived in West Lebanon since 1838, 
and in 1842 he established his present 
carriage manufacturing business. In 1841 
Mr. Snyder married Miss Catherine, 
daughter of Robert Thompson, of Stark 
County, Ohio, and six children have been 
born to them, viz. : William H., of Sugar 
Creek Township, Wayne County; Mary 
R., deceased wife of Eli Bradeu; Martha 
Jane and Francis, at home; Sarah E., wife 



76 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



of Lewis Brenner, of Brookfield, Ohio; 
and Letitia C, wife of Jacob Eby, in 
Michigan. Mr. Snyder has always voted 
the Democratic ticket, and has served his 
township as school director for several 
years, and as justice of the peace since 
1864. 



ffOHN W. McVICKEK was born 
K I February 2, 1816, in Bedford County, 
^^ Penn., a son of David and Eve 
(Wortze) McVicker, former of whom was 
a native of Bedford County, Penn., and 
died in his sixty-first year; latter died at 
the age of seventy-four years, eleven 
months and twenty-two days, and is 
buried in the old cemetery grounds near 
Congress Village, in Wayne County, 
Ohio. John W., their son, can truthfully 
be classed among the old settlers of 
Wayne County, coming here as he did 
with his widowed mother October 14, 
1832. They first resided in Chester 
Township, but in the following spring 
moved onto a farm near Congress Village, 
in Congress Township, where was quite a 
settlement of pioneers living in the prim- 
itive log cabins of the times, and endur- 
ing all the hardships and privations inci- 
dental to early life in the then compara- 
tive wilderness. At that time nearly all 
the land subject to entry had been taken 



up, but large quantities of school land 
were still in the market. Here in the 
vicinity of Congress our subject grew to 
manhood, working: on the farm throughout 
the year, with the exception of two or 
three months' schooling in winter time. 
September 18, 1838, he was married to 
Miss Catherine Garver, daughter of David 
Garver, who beyond doubt was one of the 
first settlers of Wayne County, and in 
1815 one of the pioneers of Congress 
Township. To Mr. and Mrs. McVicker 
were born the following-named children: 
Martha Jane, born May 9, 1839, died 
November 4, 1875; Sarah, born June 6, 

1840, married Henry Houman, of Con- 
gress Township; Eve, born November 16, 

1841, now the wife of Thomas Hender- 
son, an old soldier and industrious black- 
smith, living in West Salem, Ohio; Jas- 
per, born January 16, 1842, married, and 
living foiir miles south of West Salem on 
a farm; Marion, born September 12, 1844, 
died August 4, 1845; Elizabeth Ann, 
born January 15, 1846, now the wife of 
Barton Ginter, and living on the old 
homestead, five miles south of West Sa- 
lem, in Congress Township; William C, 
born March 27, 1847, died March 28, 
1876; Catherine, born November 14, 1848, 
now the wife of William Rumbaugh, also 
living near West Salem; John, twin 
brother of Catherine, died September 19, 
1858; Mary Ann, born March 17, 1851, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



died May 16, 1873; Lydia, born March 
16, 1853, died July i, 1873 ; Jesse, born 
April 1, 1855, is married, and living on a 
farm in Medina County, Ohio; Harmon, 
born November 7, 1856, is married, and 
is at present the courteous and popular 
landlord of the McVicker Hotel, in "West 
Salem (they had four children that died 
in infancy). Thus is to be found a large 
family reared and cared for, clothed and 
educated, and now industrious and useful 
citizens, all living in the immediate neigh- 
borhood of where they were born and 
brought up. The mother of this family 
died September 18, 1858, and in the fall of 
1877 Mr. McVicker married Lavina 
Bitzer Lemon, a native of Lancaster 
County, Penn., born April 9, 1811, and 
who came to Ohio with her parents in 
1836. She died January 20, 1887, in her 
seventy-sixth year. 

Mr. John W. McVicker has by his 
frugality, industry and good manage- 
ment accumulated a handsome compe- 
tency, and he is now owner of 500 acres 
of land, highly cultivated and well im- 
proved. For twenty years he was identi- 
fied with the business interests of West 
Salem, and successfully conducted the 
hotel business of the place, erecting for 
that purpose a commodious and excel- 
lently appointed building, costing upward 
of $5,000. Although retired from active 
life, Mr. McVicker is not an idler, and he 



seems to retain all the keen vigor of his 
youth in business affairs, taking a deep 
interest in politics and the general topics 
of the day. He is a veterinary surgeon 
of excellent ability, and has successfully 
practiced since 1853, having performed 
many surgical operations of a very diffi- 
cult nature; has never failed in remov- 
ing tumor, curing ringbone or removing 
spavin. He is proprietor and manufacturer 
of the Green Mountain Liniment. 



dfOHN VAN NOSTEAN. Among the 
most widely known and highly es- 
— ' teemed citizens of Wayne County 
ranks the subject of this sketch. He was 
born upon a farm in Wayne County, Ohio, 
September 14, 1847, and continued as a 
farmer boy until about twenty years of 
age, receiving the advantages of the com- 
mon country schools until about nineteen, 
when for two summers he attended the 
academy at Smithville, Wayne County. 
The winters he spent in teaching, while 
fall and spring found him laboring by the 
month on the farm. In 1871 he deter- 
mined to turn his attention to the study of 
law, in which direction, he felt, lay the field 
of his usefulness. Accordingly he entered 
the office of L. R. Critchfield, and for one 
year studiously applied himself to his 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



choseu work. But the path of a poor young 
lawyer is not strewn with roses, and, feeling 
himself financially in need of a change, 
he, in 1873, formed a partnership, under 
the name of Bowman & Van Nostran, in 
the insurance business in Wooster. This 
he continued until January 1, 1876, when 
he entered the county clerk's office as dep- 
uty clerk, and there remained until Octo- 
ber, 1880, when he was elected clerk of 
the courts, to which, for efficient services, 
he was re-elected in 1883, retiring from 
said office in 1887. On October 20, 1880, 
he left the state of single blessedness and 
became one of the vast army of benedicts 
by marrying Miss Linda M. Atkins, daugh- 
ter of David Atkins and a native of Woos- 
ter, Ohio, where her life has all been spent 
and where her parents still reside. Two 
children have come to bless the home of 
Mr. and Mrs. Van Nostran, viz. : Lillian 
Kuth, born December 20, 1881, and Ethel, 
born July 20, 1885. Politically Mr. Van 
Nostran is an active worker iu the Demo- 
cratic ranks, and has displayed such marked 
ability that lie has been chosen repeat- 
edly to represent his party; for three years 
he has been chairman of the County Dem- 
ocratic Committee ; is also a member of the 
State Central Democratic Committee for 
the Twentieth Senatorial District. In the 
city council of the spring and summer of 
1884 he was an active worker, ever firmly 
standing for his convictions, and often 



fighting against overpowering opposition. 
His popularity was shown by his re-elec- 
tion, in the spring of 1888, as a member 
I for the third term by the largest majority 
he had as yet received. He still continues a 
member of that honorable body, and doubt- 
less will be therein retained as long as his 
ward needs an earnest and reliable repre- 
sentative. Mr. Van Nostran is a member 
of the Royal Arcanum, Knights of Honor 
and the Improved Order of Red Men. In 
the latter order he ranks as past great sa- 
chem of Ohio. 



df P. VAN NEST. Success in any of 
the pursuits of life usually cbal- 
"-' lenges the world's admiration. It 
was the motto of the first Bonaparte that 
" nothing succeeds like success." It mat- 
ters not whether in the profession of law 
or medicine, or in the theological domain, 
in the military or civil life, or mercantile 
pursuits, it is the one distinguishing and 
distinctive characteristic of all business 
transactions, and which, above all things, 
the world emphatically recognizes. The 
subject of this biography, while not a 
member of any of the acknowledged pro- 
fessions, has, nevertheless, in his sphere 
of labor and activity distinguished him- 
self as an active, energetic business man. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



79 



and demonstrated the fact that to the man 
of merit belongs the full measure of suc- 
cess and worldly prosperity. 

J. P. Van Nest, the subject of these 
lines, was born in Rowsburg, Asliland Co., 
Ohio, August 6. 1841. His father, John 
Van Nest, who is living to-day, was one 
of the early settlers in that section of 
Northern Ohio; has held many offices of 
public responsibility and trust, and is 
highly esteemed by all who know iiim for 
his business capacity, integrity, honesty 
and sound judgment. His son received 
the benefits of the ordinary country and 
village school education, of which facili- 
ties he availed himself, and these, com- 
bined with the practical supervisory tutor- 
age of his father, developed him into a 
methodical, intelligent, successful man of 
business. His grandfather, John Van 
Nest, died in Millbrook, Ohio, in the fall 
of 1862, at the age of eighty-seven years, 
and is buried at Moorland, Wayne Coun- 
ty ; his wife, the grandmother of our sub- 
ject, died at Tiffin, Seneca Co., Ohio, when 
seventy-five years old. The subject of 
this sketch was married October 3, 1861, 
to Miss Mary E. Gardner, of his native 
village, a lady of fine accomplishments, 
who bore him eight children, seven of 
whom are yet living, all at home except 
three. August 22, 1862, Mr. Van Nest, 
disregarding the Mosaic prerogative of 
one year's exclusion from military service, 



after the union of wedlock, enlisted as a 
private in Company F, One Hundred and 
Twentieth Regiment Ohio Volunteer In- 
fantry, and was soon thereafter promoted 
to orderly sergeant, and soon after the 
consolidation of the One Hundred and 
Twentieth and One Hundred and Four- 
teenth Ohio Regiments, November 27, 
1864, was commissioned second lieutenant 
of Company D, and was with his regi- 
ments in all the vicissitudes of their 
numerous campaigns — during the long 
and perilous siege at Vicksburg, partici- 
pating in the battles of Arkansas Post, 
Thompson's Hills, the storming of Fort 
Blakely, opposite the City of Mobile, etc., 
etc. 

After his return from the army, in the 
summer of 1865, he engaged in the gen- 
eral insurance business, which vocation 
he persistently and lucratively pursues. 
During this period he has traveled about 
eleven years as special agent for two 
prominent fire insurance companies, and 
was recognized as one of the most cour- 
teous, industrious and efficient agents on 
the road. Having bestowed upon the 
siibject the proper reflection and consid- 
eration, and having the fullest faith in 
the purity of the objects and beneficent 
results of all well-ordered secret societies, 
in the autumn of 1870 he resolved to 
identify himself in membership with some 
standard organization, which he did in 




that year by uniting with Ashland Lodge, 
No. 151, F. & A. M., located at Ashland, 
Ohio. Upon his removal to Wooster, 
Ohio, he united with Ebenezer Lodge, No. 
33, F. & A. M., and also joined Wooster 
Chapter, No. 27, E. A. M., Wooster Coun- 
cil, No. 13, R. & S. M., all of Wooster, 
Ohio, and Wooster Commaudery, No. — , 
Knights Templar, also of Wooster, Ohio, 
of all of which he is an active member. In 
September, 1877, he became a member of 
Irene Lodge, No. 64, K. of H., and soon 
thereafter united with Wayne Council, No. 
13, Royal Arcanum, as a charter member. 
He occupied the chairs of regent and 
past regent, and was elected a represent- 
ative to the Grand Council meeting held 
in Columbus, Ohio, in March, 1879. In 
1879 he became a charter member of Ohio 
Council, No. 1, Order of Chosen Friends, 
located in Wooster, Ohio, and has the dis- 
tinguished honor of being the first Chosen 
Friend in the State of Ohio. He has been 
a member of the Supreme Council ever 
since its organization, and at each session 
has been placed upon its most important 
committees, those of laws and supervision 
and finance and accounts. He has held 
the positions of supreme trustee two 
years, svipreme warden two years, and 
supreme marshal six years, which posi- 
tion he still holds. 

At the organization of the Supreme 
Sitting of the Order of the Iron Hall, 



March 28, 1881, he was commissioned a 
deputy supreme justice, and on the even- 
ing of May 8, 1881, organized Local 
Branch No. 2 of that order in Wooster, 
with seventy-five charter members. He 
was also a member of the Supreme Sit- 
ting for a period of six years, during 
which time he held the offices of supreme 
watchman and chairman of the Board of 
Supreme Trustees. In September, 1881, 
he assisted in organizing Given Post, No. 
183. G. A. R., of Wooster, Ohio, and was 
elected past post commander, and repre- 
sented the post at the Department En- 
campment held in Cincinnati, Ohio, Jan- 
uary 17 and 18, 1882. In the spring of 
1879 he was chosen a member of the city 
council of Wooster, Ohio, for two years, 
and in 1881 was re-elected for a corres- 
ponding period, when he was unanimously 
elected president of the council, the duties 
of which responsible position he dis- 
charged with executive and parliamentary 
ability and skill. He served as chairman 
of the fire and finance committees and 
several others of commensurate import- 
ance. His present and permanent home 
is Wooster, Ohio, whither he removed in 
1874. In politics he is a Democrat of 
the Jacksonian stripe, and has always 
taken an interest in all the campaigns 
since he has been a voter. 

From what is above written it must be 
apparent that Mr. Van Nest is not only a 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



81 



society man, a worthy, honorable and in- 
telligent member of many of the most 
noble orders of the country, possessing 
the confidence to that extent of their be- 
stowal of honors and dignities upon him, 
but a man of public enterprise, compre- 
hensive and liberal views, exemplifying 
character, position and influence in the 
great, jostling thoroughfare of the world. 



dfOHN B. ODELL. Lorenzo D. Odell 
was born in Adams County, Ohio, 
— October 29, 1810. His father re- 
moving to Wayne County the ensuing 
year, he became a citizen of the county in 
infancy. The earlier years of his life 
were spent upon the farm and assisting 
his father in the mill. His opportunities 
for procuring an education were of a lim- 
ited character, consisting chiefly in self- 
instruction in spare hours. When quite 
a boy he visited Michigan, and became 
associated with the corps of surveyors 
who were running off government lands, 
and with them he remained a period of 
six months. After his return, in the fall 
of 1829, he began teaching, an occupation 
he continued until 1832, and in 1833 he 
purchased a part of his father's farm, 
where he devoted himself to agriculture 
and surveying. Mr. Odell was justice of 



the peace in 1836, and held the position 
for twelve yeai's, being elected the last 
two terms without opposition. He acted 
in the capacity of county surveyor from 
1847 to 1850, and was elected to the Leer- 
islature of the State of Ohio from Wayne 
County, serving in that honorable body 
two terms, from January 7, 1856, to Janu- 
ary 2, 18*30. He took an active part in 
the construction of the Pittsburgh, Fort 
Wayne & Chicago Eailroad, and was in- 
strumental in procuring the station at Big 
Prairie. Mr. Odell had been a member 
of the Baptist Church since 1841. He 
was married July 12, 1832, to Annie Gib- 
bon, of Lycoming County, Penn., by whom 
he became the father of five children: 
Ophelia, deceased wife of Robert C. 
Jones, of Shreve; Tobias G., who married 
Martha J. Bell, and they are now residents 
of Lakeville, Holmes Co., Ohio; Therrissa; 
Pemptos R., who married Mary Haslen 
(now deceased), and is now a resident of 
Richmond, lud. ; and John B., whose 
name heads this sketch. The father died 
April 6, 1883. 

John B. Odell was reared and edu- 
cated in the schools of the county, and 
has assumed general management of busi- 
ness affairs since the decease of his father, 
occupying the old homestead. He has 
been justice of the peace for tlie last 
twelve years, and is engaged in agricult- 
ui'al pursuits. Mr. Odell is a member of 



82 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



the Baptist Church. In politics he is a 
Democrat, and is pi-ominent and enter- 
prising in all local public matters. 



K. GRIFFITH, banker and miller, 
Orrville, Ohio, comes of Welsh 
ancestors on liis father's side, who 
immigrated to America at an early day, 
settling in York County, Penn., where the 
family lived for several generations. His 
grandfather, Joseph Griffith, was born in 
that county, living all of his lifetime on 
his birthplace, dying at the age of eighty- 
seven. He was a Quaker in religion. 
There his son. Mode, father of O. K., was 
born in 1805. He learned the trade of a 
plasterer, which became his lifelong oc- 
cupation. He lived in his native county 
until 1839, when he removed to Indiana 
County, Pean., remaining there four 
years, when he went to Boiling Springs, 
Cumberland Co., Penn., where he and his 
wife both died, he at the age of seventy- 
seven, and she aged sixty-two. Mr. Grif- 
fith was an industrious man, of a remark- 
ably upright and conscientious character, 
who regarded a promise as sacred; out- 
spoken in the expression of his opinions; 
an ardent advocate of protective tariff, 
and an Abolitionist, when to be one was to 
be unpopular, and an agent for the " under- 



ground railroad," who often helped runa- 
way slaves. He was married in 1830 to 
Eliza Kaufman, a native of Boiling 
Springs, of a well-known family. One of 
her brothers, D. S. Kaufman, was for 
many years a Congressman from Texas, 
elected several times without opposition; 
another, Abram Kaufman, was a prominent 
minister of the Episcopal Church of 
Charleston, S. C, who was honored at his 
death by interment in the body of the 
church. Mode and Eliza Griffith were 
parents of ten children: D. S., who is now 
living in Colorado; William C, A. K. and 
Levi, in Lincoln, Neb.; O. K., our sub- 
ject, and Jennie, at Boiling Springs, 
Penn. ; four are deceased, viz. : Harriet, 
Benjamin, Joseph and an infant. 

O. K. Griffith, the subject of this 
sketch, was born at Dillstown, York Co., 
Penn., April 28, 1831. Through the influ- 
ence of his uncle from Texas, he secured 
a clerkship in the United States Treasury 
Department, which he held until a change 
of administration threw him out. He 
then stayed at home for awhile, and in 
1853 came to Wayne County, where he 
had several acquaintances. Here for 
three years he worked at plastering in 
summer and taught school in winter, and 
in the winter of 1856-57 taught in Illi- 
nois, going to Kansas the following spi-ing, 
and taking up some land there. In 1858 
he returned to Wayne County, and getting 



WAYNE COUNT F. 



85 



married bouglit some timber land between 
Wooster and Smithville, wliicli he cleared. 
On this place he lived \intil 1878, when 
he removed to Smithville, where he stayed 
for a year and a half. In October, 1874, 
he removed to Orrville and bought the 
Orrville Mill, iu co-partnership with John 
Willamau. This firm existed until 1880, 
when new partners were taken into the 
concern, and the name changed to the 
Orrville Milling Company. Great im- 
provements were at once begun, a fine 
new mill being built while the old one 
was running, and when the new mill 
was running the old one was moved 
into it. To-day the mill runs night and 
day, except Sundays, and has a daily 
capacity of 500 barrels. The mill is 
operated solely by Mr. GriflSth, its prod- 
uct being all engaged beforehand, the 
flour having a high reputation. This re- 
sult is due to its being located in a first- 
class wheat-raising section ; to their hav- 
ing their own warehouses, and being able 
to select their wheat, and iu an eminent 
degree to the able and careful manage- 
ment of Mr. Griffith. In addition to his 
milling business Mr. Griffith is engaged 
in banking, being president of the Orr- 
ville Banking Company, started by him 
and some other gentlemen, and of which 
he was and is the leading spirit. This is 
an individual liability bank, the stock- 
holders each being responsible to the full 



amount of their property, giving ample 
security to customers. During the War 
of the Kebelliou Mr. Griffith enlisted in 
the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Ohio 
Volunteers. 

Mr. Griffith has been twice married; 
first in March, 1858, to Miss Jane Was- 
son, daughter of David aud Margaret 
(Beale) Wasson, old settlers of Wayne 
Township, in this county, where she was 
born in 1836. To this union five chil- 
dren were born: Frank, who is married to 
Eva Blackmore, of Orrville, and is living 
on a large farm in Colorado, owned by his 
father; Mary and John, living with their 
father; Charles, who died in 1883, aged 
niueteen, and Alice, who died in child- 
hood. The mother of this family died 
December 3, 1870. She was a woman of 
a rare Christian character, truly pious, a 
member of the Presbyterian Church. A 
faithful wife and devoted mother, her loss 
was sincerely mourned by her bereaved 
husband and children. 

In March, 1874, Mr. Griffith was mar- 
ried to Mary, daughter of John and Nancy 
Heinemau, of Wooster. She was born in 
Wayne County. The issue of this union 
was two children, one of whom, Edwin 
Fay, died iu childhood; the other, Grace, 
is now (1888) eleven years of age. Mr. 
Griffith has never been an aspirant for 
public office, but was once elected justice 
of the peace, which office he gladly got 



86 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



rid of by removing from the township. 
He is a member of the G. A. R., of the 
Knights of Honor, and of the I. O. O. F. 
In politics he is a Republican, and a pro- 
tective tariff man. A straightforward, 
enterprising and stirring man, Mr. Grif- 
fith is an important factor in the growth 
and prosperity of Orrville, and a central 
figure in the business circles. He is 
known as a thoroughly upright man and 
a valuable citizen. 



CHRISTIAN M. BALMER is of Ger- 
man and Swiss extraction. His 
grandfather, Jacob Balmer, was born 
in Lancaster County, Penn., December 4, 
1771. Late in life he I'emoved to Cum- 
berland County, Penn., where he died in 
1836. His wife was Elizabeth Hanck, 
born in Lancaster County, November 23, 
1780, and died in Cumberland County in 
1865. Her father had emigrated from 
Switzerland at a very early day. They 
were the parents of eleven children, three 
of whom are now living: Samuel, in Daxi- 
phin County, Peun. ; Lydia, wife of 
Daniel Graybill, of Akron, 'Ohio; and 
Levi, in Wood County, Ohio. Those 
deceased were named George, Jacob, 
Andrew, Christian, Susan, John, Eliza- 
beth and Daniel. 



The father of Christian M. Balmer was 
also named Christian, and was born in 
Lancaster County, Penn., May 28, 180-4, 
and was eight years old when his par- 
ents removed to Cumberland County. 
There he lived with his parents until his 
marriage, at the age of twenty -seven, 
when he moved to Shiremanstown, in the 
same county, working at his trade of car- 
riage making until 1851, when he immi- 
grated to Smithville, Ohio, where for a 
short time he worked at his trade, remov- 
ing in the spring of 1852 to the farm 
where our subject now lives, which he 
previously purchased, and which com- 
prised 183 acres. Here he lived until 
the marriage of Christian M., when he re- 
tired and removed to Smithville, where 
he died July 5, 1884. While living in 
Shiremanstown Mr. Balmer was licensed 
to preach, in 1844, by the Quarterly Con- 
ference of the United Brethren Church, 
and later joined the Annual Conference, 
by which he was also licensed. He 
preached for that church until the sepa- 
ration of the German and English 
branches in Ohio, when he united with 
the River Brethren, and preached for them 
until bis death, his last sermon being de- 
livered but two weeks before his demise, 
thus devoting the greater part of his life 
to the service of his Master. He was a 
man of truly religious principles, and 
lived up to all his professions ; was scru- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



87 



pulously honest in all his dealings, 
cautious in his conversation, never speak- 
incf aught to the detriment of his 
neighbors, and much respected by all 
who knew him. He was married in Sep- 
tember, 1833, to Annie, daughter of 
Christian and Barbara Musser, of York 
County, Penn., where she was born May 
5, 1811. Her parents were old residents 
of that part of Pennsylvania, and the 
family is very numerous there yet. She 
died on the Wayne County farm, March 
24, 1867. They had eight children: 
Christian M. was the first born; Eliza- 
beth, who was twice married, is now wife 
of Gottlieb Bitser, and lives in Huron 
County, Ohio; Susan, widow of Joseph 
Musser, lives in Cleveland, Ohio; Annie, 
also twice wedded, is wife of Cyrus Strat- 
ton, of this county; Barbara died un- 
married iu March, 1805; Mary is wife of 
Daniel Stauffer, and lives in St. Joseph 
County, Mich. ; Sarah Catherine is wife 
of Daniel Davidson, of Canaan Township, 
this county; and Esther S. is wife of W. 
S. Sage, of Huron County, Ohio, and she 
and her husband are both missionaries at 
Kotafunk, Sierra Leone, West Africa. 
Christian M. Balmer was born near 
Shiremanstown, Penn., October 5, 1834-, 
and was in his seventeenth year when the 
family came to Ohio. He had helped his 
father in the shop during his boyhood, 
but on the removal to the farm he became 



a farmer, and has followed that occupa- 
tion ever since. He was married May 9, 
1880, to Miss Matilda Oyler, daughter 
of John P. and Mary (Miller) Oyler. 
She was born in Lawrence Township, 
Stark Co., Ohio, June 17, 1852. Her 
parents were Pennsylvanians, the father 
born in Franklin County and the mother 
in Lancaster County. The mother died 
iu April, 1888, and the father is now liv- 
ing in Canal Fulton, Stark County, Ohio. 
Mr. and Mrs. Balmer have one child, 
Mary Etta. Christian M. Balmer and 
wife are members of the United Brethren 
Church, in which he has been a class 
leader, and he also holds a license as an 
exhorter in that denomination. He has 
the reputation of a strictly upright man, 
possessing many of the good traits of char- 
acter of his estimable father, and rightly 
is held in esteem by his fellow-citizens. 



1 B. PINKERTON, superintendent 
i^ I of the Wayne County Children's 
^^ Home, comes from a family whose 
name was known in America as early as 
the year 1700. Near that date eleven 
brothers, natives of the north of Scotland, 
left the land of their birth and settled in 
different parts of this country, and it is a 
known fact that all of this name now liv- 



88 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



iug in the United States are descendants 
o£ these pioneers. Benjamin Pinkerton, 
great-grandfather of our subject, was born 
in Franklin County, Penn., and was mar- 
ried to Catherine Hansel. Jacob, an only 
child, was born to this couple, and at the 
early age of nine was left an orphan by 
the death of both of his parents. When 
he was ten years old he was taken to Lan- 
caster County, Penn., by relatives of his 
mother, and there grew to manhood. He 
followed farming and distilling in that 
county until 1837. In 1816 he had passed 
through the State of Ohio, and, being 
much attracted thereby, in 1837 settled in 
East Union Township, Wayne County. 
He was married to Elizabeth Stauffer, 
who became the mother of three children, 
their names being Reuben, Rudolph and 
Elizabeth. When he arrived in Wayne 
County Mr. Pinkerton purchased a farm, 
where he resided until his death, in 1881. 
Reuben, the eldest of the children, was 
born in 1816, and is now a resident of 
East Union Township. He was married 
to Susanna Brenner, daughter of Adam 
Brenner. Eight children were born to 
this union, of whom but four are now liv- 
ing: J. B., Elizabeth (Mrs. Hoffman), 
Delilah (Mrs. Liphart) and Catherine 
(the latter at home). 

J. B. Pinkerton, our subject, the only 
son of Reuben and Susanna (Brenner) 
Pinkerton, was born in Lancaster Coun- 



ty, Penn., and was six weeks old when 
his parents immigrated to Ohio. He 
was educated in the academy of Edin- 
burgh and Fredei'icksburgh, and at Mount 
Union College, Ohio. He has made 
school-teaching and farming the busi- 
nesses of his life. In 1862 Mr. Pinker- 
ton enlisted in the One Hundred and 
Twentieth Ohio Infantry, and was a 
soldier until the close of the war, in 
1865. In the latter year he was married 
to Miss Rachel B. Carey, daughter of 
Stephen Carey, of Salt Creek Township, 
Wayne County. Three children have 
been born of this union, as follows: Pe- 
nola, now living, and William and Emma, 
deceased. In 1882 Mr. Pinkerton was 
appointed superintendent of the Wayne 
County Children's Home, which position 
he now holds. He is a courteous gentle- 
man, reliable, and highly respected by all 
who know him. Mr. Pinkerton's family 
are members of the Presbyterian Church. 
In politics he is a Republican. 



EO. H. KEPPEL was born in Ches- 
ter County, Penn., July 11, 1845. 
His parents, who are still living in 
Chester County, Penn., are John and 
Barliara (Weaver) Keppel. Geo. H. was 
reared on the homestead farm, attending 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



89 



the district schools, and when eighteen 
years old left home, and learned the car- 
I^enter's trade in Philadelphia, where he 
remained six years. In 1868 he came to 
Wayne County, Ohio, and worked at his 
trade in Wooster for about one year, then 
moved to New Pittsbui"gh, where he lived 
until 1875, iu which year lie moved to 
Apple Creek and established his present 
warehouse business. In 1875 Mr. Kep- 
pel was united in marriage with Miss 
Selaca E., daughter of Philip Spotts, of 
Keedsburgh. Mi\ Keppel is a prominent 
member of the Democratic party. In 1887 
he was elected the first mayor of the vil- 
lage of Apple Creek, and is also a notary 
public. He is a member of Ebenezer 
Lodge, No. 33, F. & A. M., of Wooster, 
and Wooster Chapter No. 27, E. A. M., 
also a charter member of Apple Creek 
Lodge No. ()7-t, I. O. O. F. 



D" 



,ANIEL C. MARTIN was born in 
Ximberland County, Peun., April 
1826, and died May 3, 1889. 
He was a son of David and Elizabeth 
(Coble) Martin, the former of whom was 
born in Lancaster County, Penn., iu 1795. 
The parents were married in February 
1819, and had a family of six sous and 
three daughters, as follows: Sons — John, 



Jacob and Levi, who died iu infancy; 
Daniel C, our subject; David, who now 
lives in Stockton, Kas., and Abraham, 
who died in the Union army during the 
war of the Eebellion. Daughters — Mar- 
tha, who married John Irwin, now liv- 
ing in Dalton, Ohio ; Elizabeth, who mar- 
ried David Miller, now living in Kan- 
sas, and Mary, who died in infancy. 
David Martin, the father of this family, 
moved from Cumberland County, Penn., to 
Wayne County, Ohio,in 1832, when Daniel 
C. was a six-year-old boy. 

The subject of this biographical memoir 
attended the public schools in Sugar 
Creek Township, Wayne County, but 
when nineteen years of age he was disabled 
by hip disease. He then taught school 
for two years, and afterward entered mer- 
cantile business at Reedsburgh, Plain 
Township, Wayne County, continuing 
in the same six years, during which time 
he read and practiced law, being admitted 
to the bar of Wayne County in 1857. In 
1853 Mr. Martin was elected a justice of 
the peace, which office he held three 
years; was also appointed notary public, 
holding that office at the time of his 
death. For ten years from 1876 Mr. Mar- 
tin was a licensed minister in the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church. February 20, 
1849, he was married to Cordelia Goudy, 
of Dalton, Ohio, who bore him four chil- 
dren, viz. : Clara, who married W. R. 



90 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



McClellan, and now living in Urbana, 
Ohio; John, who married Isabella, daugh- 
of Jacob Hess, living in Reedsburgh, 
Wayne County ; Ida, who mai-ried George 
W. Obenour, of Plain Township, Wayne 
County, and Flora, who died when three 
years of age. The mother of this family 
died in 1865, and in February, 1884, 
Mr. Martin married Julia Fornshell, of 
Wooster, Ohio. 



TAMES F. BRITON, son of Robert 
k, I and Margaret (Finley) Briton, both 
^^ natives of Ireland, former from near 
Londonderry, was born on " Deer Lick 
Farm," in Congress Township, Wayne 
Co., Ohio, November 7, 1826. Robert 
Briton immigrated to America in 1824, 
located in Congress Township, Wayne 
Co., Ohio, and leased a farm on Section 
9. He died February 14, 1827, and his 
widow then returned to her father's 
family, also residents of Congress Town- 
ship, where she died March 2, 1874, at the 
age of seventy-four years. 

James F., their son, received a com- 
mon-school education, and at the early 
aee of sixteen commenced school -teach- 
ing, which profession he followed suc- 
cessfully for some time. In 1850 he 
made an overland journey to California, 



taking ninety-five days to reach Sacra- 
mento, arriving there July 24, that year. 
Locating in Campo Seco, Township No. 
4, in Calaveras County, Cal., lie remained 
there nine years, engaged in mining. 
Here he was elected a justice of the 
peace, and was foreign tax collector, and 
afterward he served as deputy sheriff. 
From California Mr. Briton moved, in 
1859, to Chili, South America, where he 
was engaged in railroad building, re- 
maining for a period of fifteen years. 
Then, after an absence of twenty-four 
years, in which he met with varied suc- 
cess, he returned to his old home in 
Wayne County. 

Mr. Briton was united in marriage 
in 1874 with Miss Asenath Stanley, 
daughter of Nathaniel and Mary Stan- 
ley, who were among the early pio- 
neer settlers of Wayne County. Our 
subject and wife have two sons, Ernest A. 
and Charles G., and are comfortably sur- 
rounded with all home comforts in their 
residence at Deer Lick Farm. It may be 
mentioned that upon the breaking out of 
the war between Peru and Bolivia against 
Chili he returned to his old home in the 
latter country. This was in 1879. His 
sympathies were very naturally with the 
Chilian people and government. He re- 
mained there three years. During a term 
of thirteen months he was a successful 
manager of " The Guano Loading Com- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



91 



pany," of P. A. McKellar <fe Co., of Val- 
paraiso, Chili. This was ou the coast of 
Peru. Mr. McKellar fi-ecjuently acts as 
American cousul, anil is a gentleman of 
wealth and character. Politically he is a 
Republican. 



n\ NICHOLAS RUEGSEGGER was 
I \J born in Switzerland, May 1(5, 1834, 
JJ ^ son of Nicholas Ruegsegger, who 
was born in 1785, at Rothenbach, 
Canton Bern, Switzerland, and married 
Elizabeth Forni,who died in 1831, leaving 
the following-named children: John, in 
Stark County, Ohio; Christian; Samuel, 
ill Stark County; Frederick; Ulrich, in 
Paint Township ; Annie ; Elizabeth, widow 
of Daniel Olmstead, of Tuscarawas 
County, Ohio; Bai-bara, widow of Jacob 
Olmstead, of Tuscarawas County, Ohio; 
Susanna, wife of Christian Blasser, of 
Paint Township; Magdalene, and Marga- 
ret, wife of Joseph Krespach, of Paint 
Township. Christian, Frederick, Annie 
and Magdalene are now deceased. For 
his second wife Mr. Ruegsegger married 
Barbara Berger, by whom he had the 
following-named children: Nicholas, in 
Paint Township; Mary, deceased, and 
Rosana, wife of Alex. Meyers, of Isa- 
bella County, Mich. In 1835 the father. 



with his large family of wife and twelve 
children, eleven by first marriage and 
one by second, immigrated to America, 
locating first in Stark County, Ohio, for 
six months, then settling in Paint Town- 
ship, Wayne County. They were promi- 
nent members of the German Reformed 
Church. The father died in 1860, and 
the mother in 1870. 

Nicholas Ruegsegger, whose name heads 
this sketch, came to Wayne County with 
his parents when a mere child, and was 
reared on the homestead, attending the 
township schools. He has always re- 
mained ou the homestead, and followed 
farming. In 1861 he married Miss Lena, 
daughter of Samuel Graber, of Paint 
Township, Wayne County, and they have 
six children, as follows: Lucy Ann, wife 
of John J. AVefler, of Stark County, 
Ohio ; Aaron W. ; Clara R. ; Ida L. ; Elma 
L. and Cleveland AVilson. Nicholas 
Ruegsegger is a prominent Democrat, 
and has held the offices of trustee, super- 
visor, clerk of the school board, etc. He 
is an elder in and trustee of the Ger- 
man Reformed Church, and one of the 
building committee of the new church at 
Mt. Eaton. 

Ulrich Ruegsegger, his brother, was 
born in Switzerland, June 19, 1828. In 
1857 he married Catherine, daughter of 
Jacob Intermill, of Tuscarawas County, 
Ohio, and they have seven children living: 



92 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Fi'ank, a telegraph operator at Dalton ; Al- 
l>ert, in Colorado ; Charles ; Daniel ; Mary, 
wife of Frederick Frederick, of Stark 
County, Ohio; Callie and Ella. Mr. 
Ruegsegger is an elder in the German 
Reformed Church. 



i,R. G. W. LITTELL is a son of 
William and Cynthia (Smith) Lit- 
tell, of Beaver County, Penn., where 
he was born August 19, 1840. He came 
to Wayne County in 1857, and located at 
Jackson. Our subject was educated at 
the township schools of his native place 
and the Canaan Academy in Wayne 
County. He read medicine with Dr. J. 
H. Ruggles, of Creston, and graduated 
from the medical department of Wooster 
University in 1874. The Doctor practiced 
his profession at Creston about two years, 
and then established a drug store, which 
he conducted until 1886, and then for a 
time he was engaged in farming; he is 
now in the furniture and undertaking 
business. 

In 1868 he married MattieE., daughter 
of Robert and Mary Lusk, of Canaan 
Township, and they have two children, as 
follows: Miss Eva E., attending Wooster 
University, and Robert Willis, at home. 
In 1861 Dr. Littell enlisted in Company 



K, Sixteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
and served as fife-major until 1864. He 
was postmaster at Creston from 1880 until 
1885. He is an elder in the Presbyterian 
Chui'ch and leader of the choir. He is 
a member of Arthur Stronsr Post, No. 
170, G. A. R. 



d I AMES H. SEIBERLING was born 
in Norton Township, Summit Co., 
'~~^ Ohio, November 25, 18535, and is a 
son of Nathan and Catherine (Peter) 
Seiberling, natives of Lehigh County, 
Penn., and pioneers of Norton Township, 
Summit Co., Ohio, where the father, with 
the assistance of his sons, cleared and 
improved a farm, on which he still resides. 
Their family consisted of thirteen chil- 
dren (eleven of whom grew to maturity) : 
Kittie A. (Mrs. Paul Wall), John F., 
James H. (our subject), Sarah (Mrs. 
Jacob Harter), Monroe, Mary (Mrs. Jonas 
Beavy), Eliza (Mrs. Sherman Baughman), 
Franklin, Charles, Septimus, Columbus, 
Milton and Gustavus. Subject's paternal 
grandfather was John F. Seiberling, a 
native of Pennsylvania, of German descent, 
whose grandfather was one of the early 
pioneers of Pennsylvania. 

James H. Seiberling, the subject of this 
memoir, was reared in his native town- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



93 



ship and county in Ohio, and assisted his 
father in clearing up tlie homestead, car- 
rying on the farm and operating a saw- 
mill, and became himself operator of the 
mill, which he successfully conducted for 
five years. In the fall of 1863 he located 
in Doylestown, Wayne Co., Ohio, and was 
one of tlie hands in the shops of Cline, 
Seiberling & Co.. two years. In 1865 he 
purchased an interest in the business, 
which was established by the above firm 
in 1860, and which, since 1865, has been 
carried on under the name of Seiberling, 
Miller & Co., Mr. Seiberling assuming 
the superintending of the works. The 
firm makes a specialty of reapers, mowers 
and binders, and their establishment is 
the leading manufacturing industry in 
Wayne County, and a valuable acquisition 
to the business interests of Doylestown, 
to which the town is largely indebted for 
its present prosperity. 

In 1860 Mr. Seiberling married Eliza- 
beth, daughter of David and Elizabeth 
(Blocher) Baughman, of Norton, Ohio, and 
by her had six children, as follows: Allen 
B. (deceased), Mattie J., Albert F., Olive 
M. (deceased), Robert W., and George W. 
(deceased). Mi-. Seiberling is one of the 
most prominent and enterprising citizens 
of Doylestown, and has always taken an 
active part in public aifairs whicJi tend to 
promote the Avelfare of the town. He is a 
member of the Odd Fellows order. Politi- 



cally he has always been an ardent Re- 
publican. He is an active member of the 
Lutheran Church. 




BRAM HUFFMAN HUNT, M. D., 

one of the well-known and pros- 
perous physicians of Wooster, 
Ohio, was born in Flemington, 
N. J., December 8, 1838, of English and 
Dutch extraction. He is a son of Amos 
V. and Susan Hunt, former of whom died 
July 81, 1884, latter October 12. 1881. 
Obediah Hunt, the maternal great-grand- 
father of our subject, was a commissary 
in the War of the Revolution ; the ma- 
ternal grandmother died in New Jersey, 
at the age of one hundred and one years. 
The subject of this biographical 
memoir was educated at the high school 
of his native town, and studied medicine 
in the office of Dr. T. H. Baker, of 
Wooster, Ohio, at the University of Buf- 
falo and at Long Island College Hospital, 
Brooklyn, N. Y., graduating in 1862. He 
first located at Wooster, Ohio, where, in 
1863, he entered the service of the United 
States Army, having been commissioned 
assistant surgeon of the Twelfth Ohio 
Volunteer Cavalry. At Mount Sterling, 
Ky., June 8, 186i, the Doctor was taken 
prisoner by John Morgan, but released 



94 



iVAYNE COUNTY. 



tbe following day. He was with Stone- 
man and Burbridge in the East Tennessee 
and West Virginia raids; was present at 
the attack on Saltville, W. Va., and volun- 
teered to remain with the wounded; was 
taken prisoner and taken to Libby prison. 
The doctor was honorably discharged 
from the army March 28, 1865, and trans- 
ferred by special order of the War De- 
partment of date March 20, 1865, to the 
United States Navy, as acting assistant 
surgeon; then was ordered to the United 
States steamer " Mound City " under 
Rear Admiral S. P. Lee, of the Missis- 
sippi squadron. Resigning August 18, 
1865, he received his dischai-ge from the 
uavy in August, 1865. He then located 
at Fort Wayne, Ind., and entered into 
partnership with Dr. Wood worth in the 
practice of medicine. In 1866 he removed 
to Blachleyville, Wayne Co., Ohio. In 
1874 he renewed his partnership with 
Dr. Wood worth, of Fort Wayne, where 
he resided two years. In the organiza- 
tion of the Fort Wayne Medical College 
the Doctor was appointed adjunct profess- 
or of the theory and practice of medi- 
cine. After spending one winter in 
Tampa, Fla., he returned to Wayne Coun- 
ty, Ohio, locating in Shreve in 1877, and 
finally in Wooster in 1879. 

In 1866 Dr. Hunt married Abigail, 
daughter of Dr. Blachley, of Wayne 
County, and two children have come to 



bless their union, named, respectively, 
; Anna E. and Ethel, both at present at 
home. The pleasant home of this highly 
respected family was purchased by the 
Doctor on his finally settling in Wooster 
in 1879. He is a member of the K. of 
H., R. A., G. A. R. and K. O. T. M. 
Politically tbe doctor is a Republican. 
He is a member of the Disciples Church. 



T 1i ARRY McCLARREN. Prominent 
\^^ among the highly esteemed citizens 
Jj -^ of Wayne County is Mr. Harry 
McClarren, who in his social and 
public life has proven himself in all re- 
spects worthy of the good name he bears. 
He was born in Westmoreland County, 
Penn., in the year 1840, and his early 
life was one common to boys brought up 
on the farm, his education being obtained 
at the common schools of those early days. 
He is a son of James and Jane ( Curry ) 
McClarren, former of whom died in 
Wooster, Ohio, in 1883, at the advanced 
age of seventy-eight years. He had 
made Wooster his home since 1855; his 
widow, now in her eightieth year, is 
calmly awaiting the final summons to tbe 
great reunion. 

At seventeen years of age the subject 
of this memoir left home and became 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



95 



a clerk in a grocery store in Wooster, 
Ohio, thus continuing for three years, 
and then went to Pittsburgh, Peun., where 
he completed a business course at the 
Iron City Business College, receiving his 
diploma in 1800. He then returned to 
Wooster and engaged for a time in the 
hai-dware trade with E. K. Donnelly. 
April 17, 1861, he enlisted in Company 
C, Sixteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, a 
company known as " Col. Bayley's Com- 
pajiy," and went at once to the front, in 
time to participate in one of the first bat- 
tles of the war, at Phillippi, W. Va. On 
the 8th of August, 1861, his term of en- 
listment having expired, he was discharged 
and returned to Wooster. October 5, the 
same year, he re-enlisted in Company H, 
Sixteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and 
was appointed second sergeant. He 
served his country until his discharge, 
October 31, 1864. At Chickasaw Bayou 
he was wounded by a piece of shell 
above the knee, and he passed through 
the Vicksburg campaign, participating in 
the retreat from Cumberland Gap. Re- 
turning to Wooster, he engaged in the 
grocery trade, in which he has since con- 
tinued, having built up a large and pros- 
perous wholesale and retail trade. Polit- 
ically Mr. McClarren has always l)een a 
stanch Republican, and a man of such 
extensive popularity that he has been 
repeatedly chosen to various positions in 



a county whose plurality has always been 
Democratic. In 1883 he was elected 
county treasurer, and, having filled the 
office with satisfaction to all, he was re- 
elected to the position in 1885, serving 
until September 1, 1888. 

On August 12, 1868, he was married 
to Miss Sarah J. Funk, daughter of 
Samuel Funk, and born in Chester 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. She is a 
lady highly esteemed, a prominent mem- 
ber of the Ladies' Relief Corps and the 
Baptist Church. To our subject and wife 
have been born seven children, all of 
whom still surround the hearth-stone at 
home. Mr. McClarren is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, the G. A. R., Knights 
of Honor and Improved Order of Red Men. 



DR. DAVID HAWK was born in 
East Union Township, Wayne Co., 
— ' Ohio, July 28, 1845, and is a sou 
of Michael and Sarah (Bechtel, nee 
Rhodes) Hawk, the latter of whom was 
the widow of Jacob Bechtel. His father, 
who was a native of Cumberland County, 
Penn., became one of the earliest settlers 
of Wooster, Ohio. Afterward he pur- 
chased a farm in East Union Township, 
Wayne County, where he lived for many 
years, and finally he moved to Smithville, 



Wayne County, where he died in 1876'; 
his wife, the mother of David, and who 
was also a native of Cumberland County, 
Penu., died in 1847. For his second wife 
Mr. Hawk married Martha,widow of Henry 
Baughman, of Smithville, Ohio, who died 
about 1856. By his first wife Michael 
Hawk had children as follows: David 
and Lovina, wife of William Chaffin, of 
East Union Township, Wayne County; 
and by his second marriage one child, 
Harriet, wife of Joseph C. Walter, of Al- 
pine, Morrow Co., Oreg. Michael Hawk 
was a member of what was known as the 
River Brethren Church. 

David Hawk, whose name heads this 
sketch, was reared on the farm, and at- 
tended the district schools. He lived in 
Fredericksbiirgh, Wayne County, for sev- 
eral years, where he learned the milling 
business. In 1867 he moved into Sugar 
Creek Township, Wayne County, where 
he has since resided. He was always 
known as one of the leading horsemen, 
and, deciding to qualify himself for a 
veterinary surgeon, he studied, in 1882 
-83, in the Ontario Veterinary College, 
at Toronto, Canada, and has since prac- 
ticed that profession successfully in Sugar 
Creek Township. In 1865 our subject 
was united in marriage with Miss Harriet, 
daughter of Nathaniel Harbaugh, of 
Wooster Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
and by her has three children: Charles 



F., in Cleveland, Ohio, married to Annie, 
daughter of C. R. Beckley, of Orrville, 
Ohio, and Willian W. and Laura O., 
at home. Dr. Hawk served through the 
late war in Company C, One Hundred 
and Sixty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. 
He is an adherent of the Democratic 
party, and is now serving as school di- 
rector of West Moscow, Sugar Creek 
Township. He is a member of Wayne 
Post, No. 296, G. A. R., of Orrville, Ohio, 
and is now serving his post as surgeon. 



YLVESTER F. SCOVEL, president 
of the University of Wooster, Ohio, 
was born in Harrison County, Ohio, 
December 29, 1835. Sylvester Scovel, 
his father, was born of pious parents, in 
the State of Connecticut, March 3, 1796, 
and at the age of thirteen was converted. 
In 1812 he went to Albany, N. T., where 
for twelve months he was employed by a 
merchant. In 1818 he entered Williams 
College, Mass., where he graduated in 
1822. After a theological course in 
Princeton he was pastor at Woodbury, 
N. J. In 1829 he married Miss Hannah 
C. Matlack, daughter of James Matlack, 
and removed to Ohio. From 1836 he was 
general agent of domestic missions. In 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



1846 he became president of Hanover 
College, Indiana. He died July 4, 1849. 
Sylvester F. Scovel, the subject of this 
memoir, graduated from Hanover (Ind. ) 
College in the class of 1853, and from 
the New Albany Theological Seminary in 
1857. He was licensed by the Presbytery 
of New Albany, and ordained by the same 
Presbytery October 28, 1857. From 
the latter year until December, 1860, he 
served as pastor of the Jeffersonville 
(Ind.) Church, and from 1860 until 
January, 1866, at Springfield, Ohio. In 
1866 he was called to the First Presby- 
terian Church of Pittsburgh, Penn., where 
he remained until October 1, 1883, 
when, having accepted in August of that 
year the presidency of the University of 
Wooster, he resigned and came to Woos- 
ter, where he is now residing. Not only 
does Mr. Scovel stand high as a teacher 
and a lecturer, liut as a preacher he is 
eloquent, earnest and convincing, and has 
been the means of bringing many to a 
change of heart. He is a public-spirited 
and useful citizen, interested in every 
worthy movement for the good or advance- 
ment of his county. He taught the junior 
Hebrew class in tlie Western Theological 
Seminary, two years; was a member of 
the Presbyterian General Council which 
met in Philadelphia in 1880, and read a 
paper on "Presbyterianism in Relation to 
Civil and Religious Liberty." In October, 



1857, Mr. Scovel married Miss Caroline 
Woodruff. 

Mrs. Caroline (Woodruff) Scovel, wife 
of Sylvester F. Scovel, was born February 
10, 1837, in New Albany, Ind., of parents 
descended from Revolutionary anteced- 
ents. Having finished the course of a 
well-appointed female seminary, under 
the care of Mr. John B. Anderson, now of 
Manhattan, Kas., she was married to Mr. 
Scovel on the 6th of October, 1857. The 
eldest of their five children, Minor 
Scovel, married to Miss Ida Sevier Payne, 
is a civil engineer at Nashville; the 
second, Charles W., married to Miss 
Sarah Butler, is a lawyer at Pittsburgh, 
Penn. ; the third, Amelia, is the wife of 
Mr. Walter J. Mullins, of Wooster, Ohio; 
the two remaining, Henry S. and Eliza- 
beth Denny, are in the course of education. 
Mrs. Scovel has been active in temperance 
and mission work, as well as faithful to 
the duties incident to the work to which 
her husband has been called. 



diACOB HESS was born in Smithville, 
Wayne Co., Ohio, September 23, 
1832, and is a son of Jacob and Mary 
(Hutcheson) Hess, former of whom was 
born August 2, 1802, in Fayette County, 
Penn. They were married March 9, 1826, 



98 



WAVXE COUNTY. 



and were blessed with one son, Jacob, 
our subject, and three daughters, viz.: 
Rebecca, born September 23, 1827; Mar- 
garet, born October 9, 1829, and Mary, 
born September 23, 1832, she being a 
twin of Jacob, all now living. The father 
of tliis family moved to Wayne County, 
Ohio, about 1825, locating one mile east 
of Smithville, iu Greene Township, where 
he carried on blacksmithiug and farming 
for the remainder of his life. He died 
May 13, 1866, and is buried at Smithville. 
Of his family, Rebecca married, in 1845, 
Levi Brenizer, of Smithville, Ohio, where 
they settled, and he carries on a cabinet 
making business. 

Jacob (the subject proper of this 
sketch) was married February 11, 1855, 
to Eliza A. Smyser, of Reedsburgh, Ohio, 
and they have had two sons and two 
daughters, viz. : Vinton, born January 31, 
1857, and died in the second year of his 
age; John, born July 30, 1859, married 
to Mary E. Kahl February 1, 1883 (she 
died December 16, 1883; he, May 13, 
1885) ; Isabella married John Martin, and 
died May 6, 1889, leaving two children, 
Clark and Jay, aged six and three years; 
Mary Jane, who was born January 28, 
1861, was married February 24, 1881, to 
Treadwell Rouch, of Plain Township, 
where they reside (they have no children). 
Mr. Hess has for the greater part of his 
life followed agricultural pursuits, and 



has always lived in Wayne County. He 
was elected in the fall of 1857, on the 
Democratic ticket, by a majority of 511, 
to the office of county commissioner, 
which position he is now filling for a term 
of three years. He and his family are 
consistent members of the Lutheran 
Church at Reedsburgh, Ohio. 



fjACOB LEATHERMAN, the eldest 
>> I son of Peter and Elizabeth Leath- 
— ermau, was born in Washington 
County, Penn., July 17, 1820. His father 
immigrated to Ohio April 20, 1828, and 
located eight miles east of New Philadel- 
phia, in Tuscarawas County, where he 
entered Government land at Congress 
price; he also entered a quarter section 
of laud in Congress Township, Wayne 
County, in 1814 or 1815. Peter Leather- 
man became the owner of and improved 
several fine farms iu Tuscarawas County. 
Here he reared and educated a large fam- 
ily, having had fourteen children, of whom 
ten grew to manhood and womanhood. 
He died at an advanced age, respected 
and loved l)y all who knew him. Eliza- 
beth, mother of Jacob Leatherman, died 
iu Tuscai-awas County, Ohio, in about her 
fifty-tliird year. Jacob Leatherman be- 
came a citizen of Congress Township, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



99 



Wayne County, March 26, 1842, and 
located on the southwest quarter of Sec- 
tion 35, which laud was entered by his 
father many years before. Here he lived 
and struj^gled along for sixteen years, 
undergoing many hardships and priva- 
tions; but by dint of hard labor and un- 
ceasing efforts he succeeded in making 
and improving an excellent farm and 
home. 

On January 14, 1841, Mr. Leatherman 
was united in marriage with Miss Urith 
Sherrod, the daughter of Richard Sher- 
rod, who was one of the earliest pioneers 
of Carroll County, Ohio, and died many 
years ago. Mr. Leatherman left his 
home farm and went to Congress Village, 
where he embarked in mercantile business, 
which he carried on for about six years, 
when he located in West Salem, Wayne 
County, and continued in trade until 1870, 
in which year he sold out and engaged in 
the banking business. Since coming to 
West Salem Mr. Leatherman has at all 
times been strictly identified with the 
business, educational and social interests 
of the town, being chiefly instrumental in 
securing the erection of the elegant and 
commodious graded school building, which 
offers a splendid opportunity to all, rich 
or poor, high or low, in obtaining a prac- 
tical education with which to commence 
the battle of life. He is still actively 
engaged in the banking business and 



management of his farm. Having no 
children to succeed him, he feels the 
necessity of personal supervision of his 
varied business interests. 

That Mr. Leatherman is an honorable, 
successful and progressive citizen all are 
free to admit, as his works and efforts 
prove. He has filled various and numer- 
ous positions of trust in both township 
and village with credit to himself and sat- 
isfaction of his constituents. Politically 
he is a Democrat, and is in favor of local 
option laws. Mr. Leatherman has been 
a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church thirty-five years. He was instru- 
mental in founding a free library, which 
is under the control of the members of the 
Methodist Church, and is called the Urith 
Leatherman Library, in honor of Mrs. 
Leatherman. He was one of the most 
liberal contributors toward the building 
of the beautiful Methodist church in West 
Salem, and in all matters of interest for 
his church or the good of the community 
he is one of the foremost workers. 



rLORIAN SCHAFFTER is a sou of 
Abraham L. and Sophia (Sauvain) 
Schaffter, natives of Switzerland, 
who immigrated to America in 1858. 
They first rented a farm in Stark County, 
Ohio, remaining there seven j-ears, and 



100 



WATXE COUNTY 



then purchased a farm in Paint Township, 
"Wayne County, where the father still 
lives. The mother died July 23, ISSO. 
The family consisted of six children, as 
follows: Zeliua (deceased); Gustavus, in [ 
Mount Eaton, Ohio; Florian; Adeline, 
wife of August Jabas, in Daltou ; Paul, in j 
Holmes County, and Albert, at home. 

Our subject was born in Canton Bern, 
Switzerland, October 16, 1839, and re- 
ceived his education in that country. 
After coming to America he learned 
the wagon-maker's trade, which he has 
since followed, having conducted the 
business at Mount Eaton, Ohio, from 
1865 to 1880, when he purchased his 
present farm of eighty-five acres iu Paint 
Township, Wayne County. April 23, 
1866, Mr. Schaffter married Miss Lena, 
daughter of Abraham Guerne, of Paint 
Township, and they have five children: 
Edward (a veterinary surgeon in Cleve- 
land, Ohio), Eiigeue, Ally, Willie and 
Lenora. Mr. Schaffter is a stanch sup- 
porter of the Democratic party, and has 
filled the offices of assessor, supervisor and 
constable of Paint Township. He is a 
prominent member of the German Re- 
formed Church of Mount Eaton, and has 
been a deacon, trustee and secretary of 
the same. At the present time he is one 
of a committee appointed to take charge 
of matters connected with the erection of 
the new church. 



dfOHN W. FRICK. In recording the 
j names of the prominent citizens of 
Wayne County our list would be in- 
complete were the name of John W. Frick 
omitted. Although not an early settler 
of the county, in the few years of his res- 
idence his interest iu all that pertained 
to the welfare of the community, and his 
public-spirited and self-denying support 
of all enterprises of material or social 
benefit, made him well known, and gained 
for him many friends, who honored him 
for his many noble characteristics, and 
his benevolence endeared him to the 
hearts of those needing and deserving his 
succor. 

Mr. Frick was born in Adamsburg, 
Westmoreland Co., Penn., February 23, 
1822, a son of Daniel Frick, well known 
in the early days of Westmoreland County. 
He was married October 8, 18-t7, to Eliz- 
abeth Over holt, daughter of Abraham and 
Maria (Stautfer) Overholt. To them 
were born six children, three sons and 
three daughters: Maria, now Mrs. J. S. 
Overholt; Henry Clay, of Pittsburgh, 
Penn. ; Anna, now Mrs. Braddock ; Aaron ; 
J. Edgar, a farmer, and Sal lie O. John 
W. Frick was a miller in his early life, 
and iu later years was a farmer, following 
that business in Pennsylvania. In 1880 
he came to Wayne County, and bought 
165 acres of land, which he afterward sold, 
and bought 211 acres of laud, which he 




J/^r^ /5^ "^^cA 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



103 



rented, and moved on six acres of laud in 
Bloomingtou, a suburb of Wooster, which 
is now the family homestead. He began 
life poor, but by energy and industry ac- 
cumulated a good property, and I'etired 
from active labor, giving up the work of 
his farm to his sons. Mr. Frick died Au- 
gust 81, 1888, having many friends to 
mourn his loss, and to sympathize with 
the bereaved widow and children. In 
politics Mr. Frick was a stanch supporter 
of the Republican party. He was a mem- 
ber of the Lutheran Church, his widow 
and children being adherents of the same 
denomination. 



GHAS. B. DICKEY is a son of Joseph 
and Elizabeth (Akin) Dickey, set- 
tlers in Holmes County, Ohio, where 
our subject was born February 13, 1847. 
The parents died when Charles B. was but 
two years of age, and he was reared by a 
Mr. Armstrong, a farmer of that county, 
with whom he lived until he was twenty- 
two years of age. In 1872 he engaged in 
business at Fredericksburgh and continued 
for three years. He owned and operated 
a portable saw-mill for some years, and in 
1878 came to Apple Creek, Wayne County. 
In 1880 he purchased his present saw and 
planing mill, and has since added a lum- 



ber yard. In 1887 he leased the grist- 
mill, which he operated until 1888, when 
he and two partners purchased the same, 
and it is now operated under the firm 
name of C. B. Dickey & Co. It has the 
full roller process, and a capacity of fi-om 
seventy-five to one hundred barrels per 
day. 

On October 19, 1871, Mr. Dickey mar- 
ried Miss Lettie McCartney, of Holmes 
County, Ohio, and they have three chil- 
dren: Clyde, Irene and Linas Clare. Mr. 
Dickey is a prominent Democrat, and has 
always taken an active part in the affairs 
of his township. He held the offices of 
trustee and treasurer for two years each, 
and various village offices. 



B, AVID WEBNER (deceased) long a 
\j respected citizen of Wayne County, 

Ohio, was a native of Dauphin 

County, Penn., but was reared in the 
adjoining county of Cumberland. His 
father, Peter Webner, came with his 
brother John from Germany when they 
were both young men. Peter remained 
in Dauphin County, Penn., but John went 
farther west, and was never again heard 
of. So far as known, Peter was the an- 
cestor of all the Webner's now in the 
United States, but few of the name being 



104 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



known here. He was married in Dauphin 
County to Margaret Waltz, and was the 
father of fourteen children, of whom 
David was the youngest but one. The 
only survivor is Catlierine, wife of John 
Kesses, of Rockville, Conn. The mother 
died when David was but eight years old, 
and the father seven years later. 

David Webuer was born March 13, 
1831, and when of a suitable age was ap- 
prenticed to a tailor named Eeed, in 
Churchtown, Penn., to learn the trade. 
He continued to work in that place until 
1852, when he immigrated to Ohio, com- 
ing direct to Smithville, Wayne County. 
Here he worked at his trade, for Mr. 
William Peters and E. H. Gilbert, until 
his marriage, when he removed to Knox 
County, Ohio, where he opened a shop, 
also carrying on a ready-made clothing 
store. He stayed there but two years, 
however, preferring Smithville as a place 
of residence, and he returned, and opened 
a shop in the latter place, where for many 
years he worked assiduoiisly at his trade, 
in fact working at it more or less until 
his death. During this time he estab- 
lished the first hack line to the station of 
the Fort Wayne Railroad. He began by 
carrying the mail to and from the depot 
on foot, principally for exercise, and from 
this grew up the hack line, which he 
carried on until his death. He was also 
the first ticket agent of the road at 



Smithville Station. He died November 
16, 1873, the immediate cause of his 
death being neuralgia of the heart. The 
first starting point of the disease, which 
finally caused his death, was a cold caught 
while hurrying to catch a train with the 
mail, he having been delayed at the post- 
oflice beyond the usual time. This 
brought on typhoid fever and inflamma- 
tory rheumatism, from which he never 
recovered. During the Civil War Mr. 
Webner was a member of the Home 
Guards, and in 1861, though ill at the 
time, was ordered into camp at Cleveland. 
His friends, knowing his unfitness for 
duty, tried to have him excused, but to 
no purpose. The exposure of camp life 
aggravated his disease, and he was sent 
home in charge of a comrade, being un- 
fit to travel alone. Although he lingered 
for several years, he never recovered his 
health from that time — but grew steadily 
worse until the end. 

Mr. Webner at fourteen years of age 
embraced religion, and united with the 
Church of God, in Cumberland County, 
Penn., November 19, 1819, and lived a 
pious. Christian life. He took a great in- 
terest in Sabbath-school work, and was 
active in that cause, and for more than 
twenty years had been an ardent laborer 
in that part of his Master's vineyard, 
most of the time being superintendent. 
He was much esteemed for his sterling 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



105 



integrity of character, and made his 
worth felt iu deeds of kinduess, leaving 
an unfading record of good works, and 
bequeathing to his children the priceless 
heritage of a good name. His death was 
severely felt by his widow and children, 
who, however, do not mourn as those 
without hope, knowing the good man, 
the faithful husband and loving father 
has but gone before. 

On October 23, 1854, David AVebner 
was married, in Cedar Valley, Chester 
Township, Wayne County, to Miss C. E. 
Walton, a native of that place, born 
August 2, 1834. Her parents were Boaz 
and Mary Ann (Parker) Walton, the 
former born in Northampton County, 
Penn., January 1, 1798, and the latter in 
Jefferson County, Ohio, June 22, 1802, 
and is now living in the old home iu 
Cedar Valley, and notwithstanding her 
advanced age is in excellent health and 
in the possession of all of her faculties. 
Mr. Walton came with his parents to 
Ohio when but six years old, and in 1830 
he located iu Cedar Valley. He and his 
wife Mary Ann had nine children, three of 
whom died at birth, and one, Lucinda, 
who was the wife of Enos Edmonds, died 
near Winterset, Iowa. The survivors are 
Susan, unmarried, living with her mother ; 
Henry, in Michigan; Hiram, in Wayne, 
and Gideon, in Congress Township, in 
this county, and C. E., widow of David 



Webner. Mr. and Mrs. Webner were 
the parents of seven children, two of 
whom died young. Those now living 
are Helen, an estimable young lady, 
teacher in the Smithville school ; Gilbert, 
who carries on a meat-market in Smith- 
ville; Ira Day, Rush and David, with 
their mother. 

Mrs. Webner deserves and has received 
much credit for the manner in which she 
has reared her family. Left with not a 
great deal of this world's wealth, by un- 
tiring industry, good management, and 
the assistance of dutiful and affectionate 
children, she has maintained a comfort- 
able home, and given all the children the 
advantage of a good education. For six 
years after her husband's death she car- 
ried on the hack line, giving it with all 
its appurtenances to her eldest son, on his 
marriage. Her second son is a telegraph 
operator, an industrious and high-prin- 
cipled young man, and the family is spoken 
of by all who know them as one of the 
most highly respected in Smithville. 



djOSEPH A. FUNK, merchant. Of 
those thoroughly reliable business 
- men engaged in the mercantile pur- 
suits of life none in the county have 
obtained a higher standing for honesty 



106 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



and integrity than has the subject of this 
sketch. His fathei', Jacob M. Funk, was 
born in Huntingdon County, Penn., in 
1792, of German parentage. When six- 
teen years of age he moved to Westmore- 
land County, and there for many years 
followed his trade of blacksmithing. In 
1831 he immigrated to Chester Township, 
Wayne County, where for a short time he 
continued to follow his trade, and pur- 
chased 220 acres of land. Jacob M. Funk 
married Mary Bounett, daughter of Jacob 
Bonnett, of Westmoreland County, Penn., 
and seven children were born to them: 
Isaac B., John B., Margaret, David M., 
Joseph A., Lewis M. and Mary. The 
mother of these children dying in Penn- 
sylvania, aged twenty-nine years, Jacob M. 
next married Mary Kessler, who became 
the mother of two children, Elizabeth 
and Annie. Jacob M. Funk commenced 
life poor, but, by industry and persever- 
ance, at his death was a well-to-do farmer. 
Joseph A. Funk was born in West- 
moreland County, in 1824, and was about 
eight years of age when his parents came 
to Wayne County. His education was 
obtained in the common schools of Ches- 
ter Township, working on the farm till 
sixteen years of age. He taught school 
one term, and then learned the tailor's 
trade, and for ten years followed that oc- 
cupation, residing at this time in Mem- 
phis, Tenn. In 184:9 he crossed the plains 



I to California, and for eighteen months 
was engaged in gold mining. He then 
returned to Wayne County, but again 
went to California, and remained eighteen 

j months. In 1855 he commenced mercan- 

! tile business at Lattasburgh, where he has 
since remained, with the exception of four 
years. For thirty years he was a notary 
public, receiving his first commission 
from Gov. Chase. He was township 
treasurer, and also held other township 
offices and positions of trust. Mr. Funk 
was married in 1855 to Margaret Zim- 
merman, daughter of Henry Zimmerman, 
of Chester Township, and they have two 
children, Frances M. and Clara, both mar- 

I ried. Mr. Funk is a Republican. 



J GASH YODEE. About the year 
1720 Barbara Yoder, widow, whose 
husband died at sea on his way from 
Switzerland to this country, arrived at 
Philadelphia, Penn., hers being one of 
the first Amish Mennonite families com- 
ing to Pennsylvania from the old country, 
and located somewhere in the eastern part 
of the State, either in Lancaster or Berks 
County. She was the mother of eight 
sons and one daughter. Her daughter 
was married to Christian Byler. Seven 
I of her sons were married and had fami- 



WAYNE COUNTY 



10-; 



lies. One of her sous, Christian, had 
eleven children, namely: Jacob, Anna, 
Christian, John, Fannie, Elizabeth, Bar- 
bara, Henry, Yost, Joseph and David. 

The latter was the grandfather of 
Joash Yoder, our subject. His first wife 
was Jacobin Esh, who also came from 
Switzerland, a maiden, and arrived at 
Philadelphia about 1780, after a long and 
perilous passage, being on the ocean over 
six weeks. She was a good woman, and 
did not live to a great age. She became 
the mother of three sons and five daugh- 
ters, asfollows: Daniel, born (it is thought) 
in the latter part of 1791; Rebecca, born 
October 18, 1793, and was married to 
Jacob Zook; Jonathan, born September 
2, 1795, in Berks County, Penn., and was 
married to Magdalena Wagner, whose 
father, Zacharias "Wagner, was brought 
to this country from Hessen (or Hesse), 
Germany, during the Revolutionary War 
(he died at a ripe age, in Berks County, 
Penn.) ; Joseph, born September 13, 1797, 
and married to Catherine Lantz, of Mif- 
flin County, Penn., where he lived many 
years and taught English and German 
schools (about 1838 he removed with his 
family to Juniata County, Penn., and 
about 1846 he immigrated to McLean 
County, 111., where he went to farming; 
he died there in February, 1888); Mag- 
dalena was born April 23, 1799, and was 
married to John Lantz, lived in Mifflin 



County, Penn., and died there about 1832; 
Fanny, born April 11, 1802, was married 
to Joel Yoder of Centre County, Penn. ; 
Maria was born April 11, 1804, and was 
married to John Yoder, of Centre County, 
Penn. ; Leah was born December 8, 1806, 
and was married to Yost Yoder, of Centre 
County, Penn., about 1832 (she and her 
family removed to Juniata County, Penn., 
about 1849, and from there to McLean 
County, 111., but more recently to Kansas, 
where she and her husband now live). 
David Yoder (grandfather of Joash Yo- 
der), with his family, removed from Berks 
County to Mifflin County, Penn., about 
1811, and there he bought a large farm. 
He there met with reverses, his wife died 
and he became financially involved. His 
land title not being good, he lost his farm, 
and died about 1820, insolvent. 

Jonathan Yoder, father of Joash, was a 
man of great physical strength and more 
than ordinary intelligence. Although he 
received only a few months' schooling, he 
was able to read and write both English 
and German, and, without having studied 
any of the rules of the arithmetic taught 
in the subscription schools of those days, 
he could solve many of the most difficult 
questions found in the books. He was of 
generous and peaceful disposition, yet firm 
in what he considered right. His kind 
and jovial disposition made him beloved 
by all with whom he became acquainted. 



108 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



When about thirty years old he was called 
to the ministry of the Amish Meunonite 
Church, to which he belonged, and in this 
capacity he served the church until the 
end of his life, with considerable ability 
and without salary or compensation. He 
reared a large family (eleven children) 
with the labor of his hands, when wages 
for ordinary laborers was only 50 cents 
a day. Yet by industry and the prudent 
and economical management of his wife 
they lived comfortably, and became pos- 
sessors of a small home, four miles west of 
Lewistown, Mifflin Co., Peun. Awhile 
after he was married he learned the car- 
penter's trade, and to some extent followed 
the business of framing barns. About 
the year 1828, when Joash was ten years 
of age, his father removed to Half-Moon 
Township, Centre Co., Penn., and there 
bought 100 acres of land, a little south of 
a village called Stormstown, where he 
lived eight years. Then he removed to 
Tuscai-ora Township, Juniata County. 
Two children died while he lived iu Cen- 
tre County, and nine were married and 
reared children. They were born as fol- 
lows: Leah, March 28, 1818; Joash, De- 
cember 23, 1819; Elias, October 16, 1821; 
Elizabeth, January 5, 1825; Sarah, De- 
cember 7, 1826; Amos, December 17, 
1828; Jonathan, September 21, 1830; 
Magdalena, July 13, 1832 (the two last 
named died in Centre County) ; Asa, 



January 24, 1885; Catherine, September 
10, 1836; Annie, February 7, 1840. 

Soon after the last child was born, the 
oldest of the children began to marry, and 
the family became gradually larger. 
About 1846 Elias, the third born, removed 
to McLean County, 111., near Bloomington, 
the county seat of McLean County, now a 
thriving city and railroad center; had then 
only a few houses and no railroad at all. 
Soon after some other members of the 
family moved to McLean County, and 
about 1850 Jonathan and liis wife followed, 
taking the remainder of the family with 
them. There these parents lived until 
their deaths, and are buried iu a cemetery 
on a farm belonging to Simon Lautz, 
about two miles east of Carlock Station, 
on the Lake Erie & Western Railroad. 

As before stated, Magdalena Yoder was 
the daughter of Zacharias Wagner, who 
came from Hesse, Germany, and located 
in the eastern part of Pennsylvania. She 
was born in 1798. When yet quite small 
she was bound to Christian Schmucker, 
of Lancaster County, Peun. When she 
was about fourteen years of age Mr. 
Schmucker removed to Mifflin County, 
Penn., and took her witli him. She 
served with him until she was eigliteen 
years of age. She, too, became a mem- 
ber of the Amish Mennonite Church, and 
lived and died in the faith of that com- 
munion. She was a kind and benevolent 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



1U9 



woman, and her chief aim was to rear 
her children in the lore and fear of God. 
She was very industrious and frugal, and 
a good helpmate to her husband, and al- 
ways manaofed to make thiujjs in and 
arouud the house look neat and comfort- 
able. She spun all the cloth the family 
wore, from shirts to overcoats, and made 
nearly all the clothes with her own hands. 
Sewing machines were not then in use, 
but the children were always clean and 
well dressed. She was a mother in the 
true sense of the Avord. 

Joash Yoder was born December 23, 
1819, in Derry Township, Mifflin Co., 
Penn., and remained with his parents 
until he was twenty-one years of age, and 
assisted them in their struggle to rear 
their famil}-. He did all kinds of work 
on the farm. Farming then was quite 
different from what it now is. There 
were then no machines to mow the grass 
or cut the wheat or to do the threshing. 
Grass was mowed with a scythe, and 
wheat, rye and oats were cut with a sickle 
or cradle, and grain threshed with a flail 
or tramped off the straw with horses. So 
Mr. Yoder was kept busy summer and 
winter, and found but little time, after he 
was big enough to be of any service at 
home, to attend school in the log school- 
houses, which in those localities were few 
and far between. But, as he was indus- 
trious at school and studied hard when 



out of school, he managed to learn to read 
and write both English and German, and 
acquainted himself with some of the 
higher branches, which he mostlj' learned 
without a teacher. When nineteen j-ears 
of age he commenced teaching school in 
the winter and worked on the fai-m in the 
summer; this he followed for nine or ten 
years. 

In 1841 he was married to Barbara 
Kaufman, an estimable lady, the daujjhter 
of Christian Kaufman, of Bratton Town- 
ship, MifiSin Co., Penn. He then left 
Juniata County and lived in a small log 
house, 14x15 feet, belonging to his father- 
in-law, and supported his family as best 
he could, by doing all kinds of work he 
could find, much of it being wood-chop- 
ping and clearing laud, for whicii he gen- 
erally received 50 cents a day. By this 
marriage he had one son, Eli L. Yoder, 
who now lives in Nebraska and has a 
family of seven children. Mrs. Yoder 
died October 12, 1851. In the fall of 
1853 Mr. Yoder went to McLean County, 
111., where his family relatives all lived. 
On his way home he stopped in Wayne 
County, Ohio, and on the 17th day of 
November, 1853. he was joined in mar- 
riage with a widow, Catherine Zook, 
daughter of Christian Schmucker. She 
had three sons, the oldest being about 
thirteen years of age. Of tliis marriage 
there were born one daughter, Veronica, 



110 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



and one son, Amos ; the latter died when 
he was four years old. The daughter was 
married to M. P. Yoder, and is living on 
the homestead farm. Catherine Yoder, 
when married to Mr. Yoder, was living 
on the farm where she and Mr. Yoder 
now reside. The farm belonged to her 
three boys, she having a dower in it con- 
sidered worth 81,000. 

After I'enting the farm for a few years 
from the guardian of the boys, Mr. Yoder 
sold a little property in Mifflin County, 
Penn., which he had gained mostly by 
days' work at 50 cents a day, for §1,100, 
and with that sum as hand money he 
bought from the heirs' guardian the farm 
on which they j-et live. He gave his at- 
tention to farming, in which he has so far 
been successful, his wife being industri- 
ous and economical, and doing her part 
in paying for the farm. They are now 
growing old, but can still, with ordinary 
health, enjoy the sweets of life. Mr. and 
Mrs. Yoder are highly respected by all 
who know them. 



FjRED RIES was born in Saarbruck, 
Prussia, November 22, 1838, and 
-^ is a son of Martin and Mary (Cline) 
Ries, who came to America in 1847, and 
settled in Chippewa Township, Wayne 



Co., Ohio, where the father worked as a 
coal miner for twelve years. In 1859 he 
purchased thirty-three acres of land in 
Chippewa Township, on which coal was 
found, and which was developed by the 
Silver Creek Mining Company, for whom 
he was the superintendent five years. 
He then removed to Knoxville, Tenn.. 
where a company was formed for mining 
coal, for which he acted as superintend- 
ent three years. He then returned to 
Chippewa Township, Wayne County, re- 
tired fi-om business, and he now resides 
in Doylestown. His family consisted of 
eight children, viz. : Christopher, a hotel 
keeper in Clinton, Ohio; Fred, our sub- 
ject; Hettie, now Mrs. Peter Cline; Will- 
iam N., a farmer of Chippewa Township, 
Wayne County; Henry, a coal miner in 
Medina County, Ohio; Martin (deceased) ; 
George, a miner boss in Chippewa Town- 
ship, and Minnie, now Mrs. Welman 
Cline. 

Of these, Fred, whose name heads 
this memoir, was reared in Chippewa 
Township, Wayne County, fi"om nine 
years of age, receiving a common-school 
education, and began life as a coal miner, 
which occupation he followed for twentv 
years. He was then appointed inside 
boss of the mines of the Wadsworth 
Coal Company, acting in that capacity for 
eight years, when he was appointed 
superintendent of the mines, a position 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



HI 



be beld until the mines were exhausted. 
In 1880 the Excelsior Coal Company was 
formed, of which Mr. Ries was a stock- 
holder, and he has been its efficient 
superintendent since its organization. 

Our subject married, Decembers, 1861, 
Barbara Diehl, a native of Hesse-Darm- 
stadt, Germany, by whom he had four 
children: William P., superintendent of 
a coal mine at New Comerstown, Tusca- 
rawas Co., Ohio; Henry C, book-keeper 
for the Excelsior Coal Company; Elma, 
wife of J. W. Merkt, and Freddie, de- 
ceased. Mr. Ries is one of the sub- 
stantial citizens of Doylestown, of which 
he has been a resident since 1879. He is 
an attendant of the Lutheran Church. 
He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, 
Odd Fellows order, Knights of Pythias 
and Royal Arcanum. In politics he is a 
Democrat. 



USSELL E. KERR was born No- 



vember 30, 1838, in Wayne Coun- 



R 

Jj -^ ty, Ohio, and is a sou of Joseph 
and Elizabeth (Russell) Kerr, of 
Lancaster County, Penn., who came to 
Wayne County in 1833, and located in 
Canaan Township. They were pi-ominent 
members of the Seceder Chiu-ch of Woos- 
ter. The mother died in 1864, and the 



father in 1869. They reared two sons, 
Cyrus, a resident of Chester County, 
Penn., and Russell E. The sxibject of 
this biography was reared on a farm, and 
followed agricultural pursuits until 1884, 
when he established his present coopering 
business at Creston, and four other places, 
where he is largely engaged in the man- 
ufacture of flour and apple barrels. 

September 12, 1863, Mr. Kerr married 
Miss Mary J., daughter of Henry Lee, of 
Medina County, Ohio, and they have 
three children: Luella, wife of Charles 
Steele, of Medina County, Ohio; Eddie 
K., of Lodi, Ohio, and Vinnie May, at 
home. Mr. Kerr is one of the principal 
stockholders of the Creston Milling Com- 
pany. Politically he is a Democrat, and 
a member of the township board. He is 
an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and 
one of the valued and enterprising citi- 
zens of Wayne County. 



d[OHN H. KAUKE, one of the oldest 
and best known natives of Wayne 
County, was born in Wooster Town- 
ship, December 15, 1817. His father, 
John Kauke, was a native of Amsterdam, 
Holland, whence when a boy he emigrated 
to this country, locating in Pennsylvania, 
where in course of time he married Marv 



112 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



Bennett. Together they came, in about 
1814, to Wayne County, Ohio, and here 
had seven children born to them, of whom 
five are still living, all of them residing 
in Wayne County. Both parents died 
many years ago. 

Their son, John H., of whom this 
memoir treats, received his education in 
the old school-house of the period, and 
served a two-years' apprenticeship to the 
ancient trade of brick-making, from the 
age of seven to nine years, following 
which he tried his hand at the printer's 
trade for a short time. From nine to 
eleven, in connection with his brother 
Henry (now deceased), he ran an ox team 
or cart, and worked by the day as they 
could get it, receiving 25 cents or a bushel 
of corn for a day's work ; cut and ranked 
cord-wood, at 25 cents per cord, on the 
grounds now occupied and used by the 
county fair. At the age of eleven he 
struck a job with John Walters, assisting 
Mrs. Walters in the manufacture of her 
famous hop beer, gingerbread and pies, 
which were dealt to the natives by Mr. 
Walters in a small frame building on the 
southeast corner of the public square, 
after which Mr. Walters opened a tavern 
in a frame building then standing on the 
lot now owned by John Zimmerman, on 
which he erected the three-story block 
now occupied by him. The tavern was 
known by the name of Swan, Mr. Walters 



having hung out that bird for a sign. 
Mr. Kauke remained with him during his 
twelfth year. While in the employ of 
Mr. Walters it was the custom of Mrs. 
Walters to attend j^ublic sales in the 
country and camp-meetings, keeping a 
boarding table, Mr. Kauke being princi- 
pal help. At the age of thirteen he was 
employed by James Jacobs, who kept a 
general store, as a boy or hand good for 
all work. At the age of fifteen he had 
general oversight of the work in the store ; 
at the age of seventeen took charge of and 
kept the books ; at the age of nineteen was 
sent to New York to purchase a stock of 
goods for Mr. Jacobs, and at the age of 
twenty-one was given an interest in the 
business, and continued in the general 
trade until 1843, when they disposed of 
the dry goods stock, and went exclusively 
in the general hardware trade. In 1848 
he bought out his partner, James Jacobs, 
and continued in the trade until 1865, 
in the meantime having built the iron 
block adjoining the court-house on the 
west. 

He was also engaged in banking in 
connection with his commercial interests, 
first, from 1854 to 1862, with Sturges, 
Stibbs & Co., and then with Stibbs, Han- 
na & Co. to 1876, and Kauke & Frost un- 
til 1883, when the bank was closed and 
settled up. He was also interested with 
Col. W. K. Boone, in Lima, Ohio, in the 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



113 



hardware trade, from 1868 to 1883, and 
since 1856 he has had a similar business 
in Van Wert, Ohio. Since its inception 
Mr. Kauke has been interested in the 
Gas Works of Wooster; was one of the 
principal iuaugurators of the Wooster 
Gas Light Company, of which he is and 
has been for about iif teen years president. 
He served the city of Wooster faithfully 
in the council, also as mayor. While a 
member of the Board of Education he 
was instrumental in securing the site of 
the present high school building. He 
was one of the largest conti'ibutors 
toward the establishment of Wooster 
University, and was the first to endow a 
a professorship (natural science), in the 
sum of §25,000, that bears his name, and 
has been one of the trustees of the imi- 
versity since its commencement. Mr. 
Kauke has been identified with all the 
enterprises and improvements of Wooster; 
acted as trustee of the Wooster Cemetery 
Association for a number of years, being 
one of the original purchasers of the 
cemetery grounds. 

At the present time he is making a 
strong effort to complete the north and 
south railroad, known as the Killbuck 
Valley, chartered name, Lake Erie, Woos- 
ter & Muskingum Valley Eailroad Com- 
pany. The track is graded fi'om Woos- 
ter to Burbank, bridges built, and ties on 
the ground. The company was chartered 



in 1882. Mr. Kauke is president, and 
feels confident the cars will run on it in- 
side of twelve months. 

In 1841 Mr. Kauke was married to 
Elizabeth Himmelrich, a native of Union 
County, Penu., coming to Wooster in her 
childhood. They have had seven children, 
three of whom are living, as follows: 
Cary W. Kauke, Flora E. Clemmens and 
Emma Jane Jackson. The parents are 
both members of the Presbyterian Church. 
In politics Mr. Kauke is a Republican. 



^ 



M. PARRISH, proprietor Archer 
House, "Wooster, Ohio. 



J(OHN S. CASKEY. This well- 
known citizen of Wooster, Wayne 
— ' Co., Ohio, was born in Westmore- 
land County, Penn., August 27, 1834. 
His father, Robert Caskey, was likewise a 
native of the Keystone State, but was 
reared in Ohio. When a young man he 
returned to Pennsylvania, and there grew 
to maturity. He was a farmer by occupa- 
tion, and was married to Miss Nancy 
McClarran. Two children were born of 
this union, John S. and Samuel, and oar 



114 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



subject is the sole survivor, the youuger 
brother dj-ing January 12, 1867. In 1852 
the father came to Wayne County, Ohio, 
bringing his family with him, and here he 
and his wife both died, the latter February 
10, 1862, and the former April 13, 1866. 
John S. Caskey grew to manhood on 
the farm, receiving a common-school edu- 
cation. His father being crippled, he had 
to work at an early age. He lived on the 
Wayne County farm until 1862, and in 
August of that year, the Civil War being 
then in progress, he offered his sei"vices 
to his country, enlisting in Company E, 
One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio Volun- 
teer Infantry, and was at once sent to the 
fi'ont. The first engagement in which he 
participated was Chickasaw Bluffs, in the 
rear of Vicksburg, Miss. Hardship and 
exposure brought on severe illness, but 
he continued in the ranks until the battle 
of Arkansas Post, after which he was 
prostrated by fever, and was sent to the 
hospital at St. Louis, where he was con- 
fined for months. Being partially recov- 
ered, he desired to return to the front, but 
taking a relapse the physician in charge 
dissuaded him, and receiving an honora- 
ble discharge he returned to Wayne 
County and resumed his labors on the 
farm. Wlien he came back home he was 
so ill that he had to be brought on a bed, 
his young wife faithfully watching over 
and attending him on his journey. 



In 1862, a short time after his enlist- 
ment, Mr. Caskey was united in marriage 
with Miss Josephine Newman, daughter of 
Dr. William Newman, who died when his 
daughter was but two years old, and she 
was reared by her grandparents in Ash- 
land County, Ohio, where her marriage 
took place. No children have been born 
of this union. About 1866 our subject re- 
moved to Wooster, where for two years he 
was engaged in the ice business, then sell- 
ing out for a short time he followed 
the mineral water business. Soon after 
he entei-ed into partnership with his cousin 
and present partner, in the grocery and 
queensware business, purchasing the in- 
terest of K. E. Harris, of the firm of K. E. 
Harris & Co. The firm of McClarren & 
Caskey is now one of the oldest in the 
county, and do a large business, their an- 
nual retail sales being the largest in the 
county. 

Mr. Caskey has been prominent in pub- 
lic affairs of the city and county, and has 
held important offices, which always came 
to him unsought. He is a Democrat in 
politics, for two terms was township 
treasurer, and in 1879 was elected to the 
responsible position of county treasurer, 
and was re-elected in 1881, discharging 
the duties of his office in a manner to win 
hearty encomiums from citizens of every 
shade of political belief. As a faithful 
public servant, a just and high-minded 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



115 



merchant, aucl a public-spirited man and 
citizen, Mr. Caskey stands deservedly bigh 
among the people of Wayne County. 



AMUEL CULLY was born Febru- 
ary 19, 1840, on the homestead 
where he at present resides, in 
Sugar Creek Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
and is a son of Joseph and Margaret 
(Moudebaugh) Ciilly, the former of 
whom was born in York County, Penn., 
January 9, 1800. They were married iu 
1828, and afterward came to Ohio, locat- 
ing first in East Gi'eenville, Stark County, 
where they remained but a short time, 
coming the same year to Wayne County, 
and settling on the farm now occupied by 
their son, Samuel. They carved for 
themselves a home out of the wilderness, 
and experienced all the hardships and 
trials incident to pioneer life. Joseph 
Cully has always been a supporter of the 
Democratic party, and has held various 
township ofiices. He and his wife early 
connected themselves witli the Presby- 
terian Church of Daltou; she died in 1883; 
he is still living on the old homestead at 
the ripe age of eighty-eight years. Ten 
children were born to this couple, one of 
whom died at the age of twenty-one 
years; John, the second eldest, settled in 



Sugar Creek Township, Wayne County, 
and engaged in farming; he died in 1885, 
The others are yet living, and are as fol- 
lows: William, in Stark County, Ohio; 
Elizabeth, widow of R. R. McMillan, in 
Iowa; Margaret Jane, wife of Luther Mc- 
Dowell, in Sugar Creek Township, Wayne 
County; David, iu Missouri; Maria, wife 
of Fiulay McCall, iu Iowa; Samuel; 
James, in Cleveland, Ohio; and Thomas, 
iu Sugar Creek Township, Wayne County. 

Of these, Samuel, whose name heads 
this memoir, was married in 1868 to Miss 
Susan, daughter of Philip Sword, of 
Sugar Creek Township, Wayne County, 
and to this union have been born four 
children, as follows: Warren P., Elizabeth 
E., George A. and Herby J. Mr. and 
Mrs. Cully are members of the Reformed 
Church of Stark County. Politically he 
votes the Democratic ticket. He is one 
of the successful farmers of Sugar Creek 
Township, Wayne County. Thomas Cully, 
the youngest son of Joseph and Margaret 
(Moudebaugh) Cully, was born March 6, 
1844:, and was educated in the township 
schools and Smithville Academy. In 
1861 he enlisted in Company C, Forty - 
first Ohio Volunteer Infantiy, and re- 
ceived wounds in the side and hand at 
the battle of Pickett's Mills, near Atlanta, 
Ga., being honorably discharged in 1865. 

In 1870 he married Miss Dora E., 
daughter of David Erwin, of Sugar Creek 



116 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



Township, Wayne County, and by her 
has two children, viz. : Mina E. and 
Maggie N. Mr. Thomas CiiUy is one of 
the trustees of the Presbyterian Church, 
and has served the township as trustee, 
school director, etc. He supports the 
principles of the Prohibition party. 



IfSAAC NEWKIKK, sou of Henry 
Newkirk, was born June 5, 1821, in 
-^ Clinton Township, and was married to 
Sarah O. Gibbon March 27, 1847, and 
united with the Methodist Church in the 
winter of 1856. He was suddenly seized 
with violent illness while attending the 
grand jury in Wooster, and died Decem- 
ber 22, 1870. The following is an extract 
from an obituai'y written at his death: 
" The large concoui'se which followed his 
remains to the grave was a beautiful trib- 
ute to the might of simple goodness. 
Riches, rank, fortune, intellect, all have 
commanded their homage before; but 
only that rare and beautiful combination 
of all that is lovely and of good report, 
which was found in our friend, could 
have called forth that spontaneous homage 
from all hearts. Mr. Newkirk was known 
and loved by all his neighbors for his 
lofty spirit of honor, spotless integrity, 
delicacy of conscience, kindness of heart, 



and promptness of decision. In all the 
varied relations of Sunday-school superin- 
tendent, steward and class-leader, he gave 
fine satisfaction to the church. During 
most of his illness he was favored with 
peace and tranquility; and when coffined 
and hearsed the uniform testimony borne 
to his life was, ' He sleeps well.' He 
was greatly respected and loved by a , 
large and numerous circle of friends, 
especially by the society at Newkirk's, of 
which he was a member." 



Ml 1( M. NEWKIRK was born in 1848 
Ipl in Clinton Township, Wayne Coun- 
Jj ty, Ohio, where he was reared 

and educated. He is the son of 
Isaac and Sarah O. (Gibbon) Newkirk 
(whose biography appears above), who 
were the parents of the following-named 
children: H. M. ; Mary, now Mrs. J. D. 
Peters, of Carbondale, 111. ; Ida, now a 
resident of Wooster, Ohio; Victor, a 
dealer in real estate in Kansas; Wade, 
an attorney in Wooster, Ohio; Thomas, 
engaged in railroad business in Illinois. 
Of these, H. M. married, in Wayne 
County, Ohio, Annie B., daughter of 
William Linn, of Wooster, and to them 
four children were born: Dale, Linn, 
Helen and Blanche. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



117 



H( AEYEY E. MESSMORE, of Woos- 
ter, ex-sheriff, is oue of the best 
-^ known and most widely respected 
citizens of Wayne County. He was 
born in German Township, Fayette Co., 
Penn., September 9, 1820, his parents also 
being natives of that State. His grand- 
parents came to America prior to the War 
of the Revolution, in which his j^atei'nal 
grandfather, John Messmore, took part, 
serving in the Continental army, and pass- 
ins through the memorable winter at Val- 
ley Forge, under Washington. 

George Messmore, father of Harvey R., 
was a farmer, a distiller, and also a miller 
by trade, owning a mill which he operated 
with his farm. His wife was Miss Eleanor 
McWilliams, a daughter of John and 
Annie (Willson) McWilliams. Of their 
union four sons and one daughter were 
born, of whom three sous are now living: 
John, a resident of Hancock County, 
Ohio; William, living at Apple Creek, East 
Union Township, this county, and our 
subject. In 1846 George Messmore came 
to Wayne County, purchasing a farm in 
Franklin Township, and he and his wife 
thereafter made their home in Wayne 
County until their deaths. Mr. Mess- 
more removed to Edinburgh, or Apple 
Greek, where he started a hotel, and was 
also for a number of years postmaster at 
that place. He departed this life April 
27, 1877, when he lacked but three days 



of having completed his eighty-eighth 
year. His wife also lived to a ripe old 
age, dying September 27, 1875, aged 
eighty years, eleven months and nine days. 
George Messmore was a prominent and 
highly respected citizen, and had held the 
position of justice of the peace for many 
years, first filling that office by appoint- 
ment of the governor, and on the change 
of the law was elected to the same position 
several terms. He was a soldier in the War 
of 1812, and served under Harrison at the 
famous fight of Tippecanoe. The family 
has always been noted for patriotism. His 
father served in the Revolution, and John, 
now of Findlay, Ohio, served three years 
during the Rebellion. George Messmoi-e 
and wife were consistent members of the 
Presbyterian Church, and in politics he 
has always espoused the cause of the Dem- 
ocratic party. 

Harvey R. Messmore received a com- 
mon-school education, and learned his 
father's trade of miller. At the age of 
twenty-three, on November 1, 1843, he 
was married, in his native State, to Miss 
Jane Beeson, daughter of James and 
Agnes Beeson, and a native of Pennsylva- 
nia. He was twenty-six years old when 
his parents came to the then new county 
of Wayne, and he, with his wife and oue 
child, accompanied them. He located 
first in Franklin Township, but later re- 
moved to East Union Township. After a 



118 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



time be returned to Moorland, in Frank- 
lin, where he began business in a small 
general country store, with a stock of dry 
goods, groceries, etc., conducting that 
business successfully for five years, and 
then selling to William McFadden. His 
next location was in Wooster Township, 
where for five years he ran the old Woos- 
ter Mill, which in those days did a large 
and thriving business. His next work 
was in operating the McConkey Mill in 
Shreve, but two years later he went into 
the Shreve Mills, at the same place, 
where he remained a year. This brought 
him to the fall of 1861, when he pur- 
chased and removed to the farm, which 
he still owns, one mile east of the village 
of Shreve. There he lived until the fall 
of 1880, when he was elected sheriff of 
Wayne County, and removed to Wooster, 
which has since been his home. In 1882 
he was re-elected, his term expiring Jan- 
uary 5, 1885. Since that time Mr. Mess- 
more has retired from active labor, and in 
his pleasant home on East Liberty Street, 
surrounded by his family, and with every- 
thing to make life pleasant, he is enjoy- 
ing the fruits of a life of industry, 
crowned by an honest and honorable pri- 
vate and public career. The union of Mr. 
and Mrs. Messmore was blessed by the 
birth of six children, four of whom are 
now living, viz. : James Newton, now en- 
gaged in the livery business in Wooster; 



Eleanor, Agnes and Martha. Those 
deceased are Lillie and an unnamed 
infant. 

Our subject is now sixty-eight years of 
age, but looks many years younger. He 
enjoys good health, but is just now suf- 
fering from the effects of a severe accident 
which happened to him in February, 
1888, by which he suffered the fracture 
of ten bones. No citizen of the county 
commands in a higher degree the confi- 
dence and esteem of his fellow-men. He 
is ever straightforward and honorable, 
and is known as one liaviBg the interests 
of the city and county at heart, and will- 
ing to do his share in forwarding all proj- 
ects tending to their material or moral 
advancement. In politics he has always 
been a stanch Democrat. Socially he is 
member of Ebenezer Lodge, No. 33, A. 
F. & A. M., and Wooster Lodge, No. 42, 
I. O. O. F. 



P 



ETER STAIE, one of the most 



prominent farmers and pioneers of 
11 Wayne County, Ohio, was born in 
Cumberland County, Penn., in 1819. 
His father, Jacob Stair, was a native of 
Lebanon County, Penn., as was also his 
grandfather, William Stair, and his great- 
grandfather was a native of Scotland. 





^^"^^.--i^^^ 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



121 



William Stair, the grandfather, married a 
Miss Bickle, aud Jacob, the father of the 
Bubject of this sketch, was the only child 
born to this marriage. The mother died, 
and William was married a second time. 
Jacob was reared in his native county, 
and remained there until his twentieth 
year, at which time he removed to Cum- 
berland County and resided with an uncle. 
While in Cumberland County he wooed 
and married Magdalina Baaeher, of that 
county, a daughter of John Baaeher, who 
with his two sons removed to New York 
State and there died. To Jacob and wife 
were born three children, viz.: William, 
Elizabeth aud Jacob. In 1809 the wife 
died, and then Jacob married Anna Stahl, 
daughter of Adam and Elizabeth Stahl. 
Nine children blessed this union, Peter 
being the fourth. In April, 1828, Jacob 
Stair, his wife and ten children, seven 
sons and three daughters, immigrated to 
Wayne County, Ohio, and settled near the 
present town of Madisonburgh, four miles 
north of Wooster. In Wayne Township 
he purchased 320 acres of land, and in 
Plain Township the same number of acres, 
and resided in Wayne Township until 
death called him home, in 1870, at the 
ripe old age of eighty-five years. His sec- 
ond wife died in 1855, aged sixty-six years. 
This pioneer was well known as a plain, prac- 
tical, common-sense man, and although he 
started in life in moderate circumstances, 



during his business career and by his own 
efforts he had owned §50,000, and at one 
time 6-tO acres of land. 

Peter, the fourth child of Jacob by his 
second wife, spent his early life in Wayne 
Township. He received a common-school 
education, and, as his father before him 
had done, made farming his occupation. 
He has always been a prominent and zeal- 
ous citizen, and has held several public 
offices. As a trustworthy man and citizen 
he is well known, being one of the trust- 
ees of the Children's Home at this time, 
aud an ex-county commissioner. In 1874 
the Democratic party nominated and 
elected this worthy man to the office of 
county commissioner, and in 1877 he was 
renominated and re-elected. During his 
administration in office an addition was 
made to the insane department of the in- 
firmary, and the court-house of Wayne 
County, at Wooster, was erected, an orna- 
ment and honor to the county. 

In 1842 he was wedded to Sarah Houser, 
daughter of Jacob and Catherine Duniger, 
he being a Pennsylvanian. Two of their 
children died in infancy. For twenty-six 
years Mr. Stair has resided at his present 
home, comprising 229 acres of land, which 
was formerly divided into two farms. Mr. 
Stair commenced life's battle with noth- 
ing, but by his uprightness of character, 
honesty, integrity and industry he stands 
high, and will always be honored in the 



122 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



community as an honorable man and an 
earnest, sincere and zealous citizen. 




ILLEK FAMILY. This well- 
known family, who have for many 
^ years been residents of Wayne 

County, are now represented here 
by three of the sons of Jacob and Mag- 
dalen (GindlesjDerger) 'Miller, viz. : John 
W., Jacob A. and William W. On both 
sides the family are of German extrac- 
tion, the paternal grandparents being Jo- 
seph and Elizabeth Miller, both natives 
of Somerset County, Penn., where they 
died. The maternal grandparents were 
Joseph and Magdalena Giudlesperger, the 
former a native of Germany and the lat- 
ter born in Pennsylvania. In that State 
they were married, and later removed to 
Wayne County, Ohio, settling in Baugh- 
man Township, where some of their 
descendants yet live, their son, Joseph, 
occupying the home farm there. 

Grandfather Miller had been twice mar- 
ried, and the father of the three Millers 
mentioned as residents of this county was 
a child of the first wife, who died three 
days after giving him birth. He was 
named Jacob, and was born in Somerset 
County, Penn., April 3, ISl-i, and died on 
the homestead, in Greene Township, this 



county, November 25, 1885, aged seventy- 
one years, seven months and twenty-two 
days. He received his education in the 
district schools of his native county, and 
was instructed in the doctrines of the 
Lutheran Church at Pine Hill, near Ber- 
lin, Penn., and was there confirmed when 
twenty years old. From that time until 
his demise Jacob Miller was a pious and 
consistent church member. In the fall of 
1830, when twenty-two years of age, he 
immigrated to Wayne County, settling on 
the farm on Section 20, in Greene Town- 
ship, which was his home until his death. 
The farm comprised 160 acres, of which 
but twenty-five were partially cleared. 
All the rest he reclaimed from the wilder- 
ness, enduring much of the hardships and 
privations of a pioneer life. Long before 
his death he had it well fenced, provided 
it with good buildings, and had made it 
one of the best in the neighborhood. 

On September 11, 1834, while a resi- 
dent of Somerset County, Penn., he was 
married to Magdalen Giudlesperger, a 
native of that county, born July 1, 1813. 
She also died on the home farm, on Feb- 
ruary i, 1886, aged seventy-two years, 
seven months and three days. Mrs. Mill- 
er was a member of the German Re- 
formed Church, holding her membership 
until her death. She and her husband 
had lived together more than fifty-one 
years, and on the anniversary of their 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



123 



wedding day, preceding the death of Mr. 
Miller, a family reunion was held to cele- 
brate the event, and a large number of 
the descendants and friends assembled to 
do honor to the aged and honored couple. 
But a little more than two months later 
the good pioneer was called to his final 
home, the companion of so many years 
following him to the other shore a few 
weeks afterward. In life they had lived 
in peace and harmony, sharing each 
others joys and sorrows for more than 
half a century, and in death they were 
but a short time parted. They were 
faithful and devoted companions, kind 
parents, who brought up their children in 
the fear of the Lord, and were esteemed 
by all who knew them. Mr. Miller had 
been a deacon and elder in the Lutheran 
Church for many years, since tiie organ- 
ization of the church at Smithville until 
his death, which was mourned by a large 
circle of friends. He and his wife, Mag- 
dalen, were the parents of seven sons and 
three daughters, as follows: Cyrus B., 
now a resident of Marshalltown, Iowa; 
John W., a farmer of Greene Township, 
in this county; Abraham J., living at 
Whitten, Hardin Co., Iowa; Joseph C, 
in Stark County, Ohio; Margaret, wife of 
Jesse S. Keiffer, of Bryan, Ohio; Cor- 
nelius J., of Wayne Township, this 
county; Mary E., deceased wife of Dr. J. 
C. Dreyher, then of Smithville; Jacob A., 



living on the old homestead; Susan, de- 
ceased wife of David H. Warfel, then of 
Greene Township; and William W., a 
merchant in Orrville, Wayne County. 

John W. Miller, the eldest of the three 
sons of Jacob Miller residing in Wayne 
County, was born on the Ohio homestead, 
January 14, 1838. His life-long occupa- 
tion has been that of a farmer. On his 
marriage he removed to a farm owned by 
his father, one and a half miles from 
his birthplace, and there lived eleven 
years. 

In the spring of 1874 he settled on his 
present home, adjoining his father's, also 
on Section 20, Greene Township, which he 
bought from the heirs of his wife's father. 
July 10, 18G1, he was united in marriage 
with Miss Mary E. Weiler, daughter of 
William and Ann Eliza Weiler, natives of 
Pennsylvania, the father born in Reading, 
Berks County, and the mother in Chester 
County. They came to Ohio about the 
same time as the parents of Mr. Miller, 
locating first in Stark County, with the 
parents of Mr. Weiler; afterward coming 
to Wayne County, where they bought the 
farm adjoining that of Jacob Miller. Their 
parents were Joseph and Rosanna Weiler, 
the former of whom died while on a visit 
to some of his children in Indiana, and 
the latter in the home now owned by John 
W. Miller. William Weiler was a man 
of excellent character', well liked by all 



124 



WAYNE COUNT Y. 



who knew him, ami had hosts of friends, 
He died June 4, 18G6, aged fifty-nine 
years and eight months, being born Octo- 
ber 4, 1806. His wife, Ann Eliza, was 
born January 18, 1810, and died March 
1, 1880, aged seventy years, one month 
and fourteen days. They were the 
parents of eleven children, Mrs. Miller 
being the only one living in Wayne 
County. Their names are Kosanna, wife 
of James R. Shaffer, of Lima, Ohio; 
William C, living in Sedalia, Mo. ; Louisa, 
deceased wife of James K. Ward, of 
Columbiana County, Ohio; Joseph, who 
was a resident of Stark County, Ohio, 
entered the Union army, and was killed 
at Murfreesboro, Tenn. ; John J. lives in 
Tennessee; Rebecca died young; Hamil- 
ton was also a patriot soldiei', and was 
killed at Athens, Tenn. ; Sarah Ann Grace 
is the wife of Cassius M. Jolly, of Lima, 
Ohio; Henry is a resident of Tennessee; 
Alice Malvina died in childhood; and 
Mary E. , wife of John W. Miller, who was 
the eldest but one of this family, and was 
born July 18, 1833. She and her husband 
have had five children. The second child, 
Ulysses S. G., died February 27, 1880, 
aged sixteen years. The survivors are 
Elmer E., born February 1, 18G3, married 
to Nettie March, living on his father's 
farm; William J., born May 31, 1866, is 
a telegraph operator at Orrville, Ohio; 
and Jesse Amnon, born May 28, 1871, 



and Johnny Hays, born August 28, 1876, 
still under the parental roof. 

Mr. and Mrs. Miller are members of 
the Lutheran Church, of which he has 
been, since the death of his father, an 
elder, being elected to succeed him. Pre- 
vious to that he had been a trustee and a 
deacon. By his neighbors and friends 
John W. Miller is esteemed as a man of 
great probity of character and sterling 
integrity. Mr. Miller has been promi- 
nent in politics, and has filled several po- 
sitions of trust. He has sei'ved as trustee 
several years, and for twenty years has 
been a member of the school board, of 
which he has been president a number of 
years. May 2, 1864, he enlisted in Com- 
pany A, One Hundred and Sixty-ninth 
Ohio Infantry, and was stationed at Fort 
Ethan Allen, Virginia; the following July 
he was taken sick with typhoid-malarial 
fever, and in August was sent home on 
sick furlough, and in September was dis- 
charged from the service, but has never 
fully recovered from the effects of this 
sickness. 

Jacob A. Miller, a younger son of Jacob 
Miller, now lives on the old homestead on 
Section 20, Greene Township, where he 
wasborn January 7, 1850. Helivedonthe 
farm until he was twenty-one years of age, 
when he engaged in the lumber business, 
principally for the Lake Shore & Michi- 
gan Southern Railroad, furnishing car 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



125 



timber. In this occupation he continued 
for sixteen years, making his home for the 
first two and a half years in Seneca Coun- 
ty, Ohio, and the balance of the time in 
Defiance County, Ohio. In that business 
Mr. Miller was quite successful, and accu- 
mulated considerable means. He now 
owns a fine, well-improved farm in Defi- 
ance County. While living there Mr. 
Miller served several terms as township 
trustee, and also held other positions of 
trustand responsibility. In March, 1887, 
he retired from the lumber business, and, 
buying the interests of the other heirs, 
returned to the place of his birth, where 
he expects to spend the remainder of his 
days. He is making many improvements 
on the place, and has partially rebuilt the 
house. 

March 4, 1884, Mr. Miller was married 
to Miss Sarah Pittenger, daughter of 
Peter and Jane (Buchanan) Pittenger, 
then residents of Carroll County, Ohio, 
who had previously lived in Harrison 
County, Ohio. The father was born in 
Harrison County October 1, 1800, and 
died February 9, 1854, aged fiftj -three 
years, seven months and twenty-three days. 
The mother, Jane Buchanan, was born 
in Pennsylvania July 11, 1803, and was 
three years old when her parents moved 
to Ohio. On both sides her ancestors 
were of that sturdy race of pioneers who 
laid the foundations of the prosperity of 



the grand State of Iowa. After their 
marriage Peter and Jane Pittenger re- 
moved to Carroll County, Ohio, where 
they in turn carved a home out of the 
wilderness. Of their first purchase of 
eighty acres but five were partially cleared. 
To this they added eighty acres more, 
and made it by hard work a fine, well-cul- 
tivated farm. Their first house was a log 
cabin, with puncheon floor, and door hung 
on wooden hinges, in true frontier style. 
This was succeeded by a hewed log house, 
yet standing, and that by a comfortable 
frame house. Mrs. Pittenger died Octo- 
ber 20, 1872, aged sixty-nine years, three 
months and nine days. This couple had 
ten children, as follows: Samuel B., and 
Mary, wife of Isaac Booth, of Indiana; 
Margaret, wife of David Davis, and John, 
residents of Carroll County, Ohio ; Nancy, 
wife of Alex. Riley, in Stark County, 
Ohio; Joseph, Evan, Susannah and Abra- 
ham, deceased; and Sarah, the youngest of 
the family, now Mrs. Jacob A. Miller, who 
was born in Carroll County, Ohio, October 
24, 1848. She was but six years of age 
when her father died, and she lived with 
her mother until the demise of the latter, 
then making her home with her brothers 
and sisters until her marriage. 

Mr. and Mrs. Jacob A. Miller are mem- 
bers of the Evangelical Lutheran Church 
at Smithville, Ohio, and he is a teacher of 
the Sabbath-school, a work in which he 



126 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



has always taken a special interest, and 
with which he has been closely identified 
for neai'ly a quarter of a century, holding 
the positions of librarian, teacher and 
superintendent, and always working ear- 
nestly in the cause. Both he and his wife 
are highly esteemed members of society, 
and as a man of business, a good neighbor 
and kind friend Jacob A. Miller bears an 
enviable reputation, well deserved. 



JD. ZOOK, school-teacher, farmer and 
justice of the peace, Wayne Town- 
ship, Wayne County. The associ- 
ation of the Zook family with Wayne 
County dates back as far as 1817, at which 
time John Zook settled in Greene Town- 
ship. He and his wife, Catherine (Weid- 
man) Zook, were natives of Mifflin County, 
Penn. They were the parents of twelve 
children, of whom Joshua was among the 
youngest. John Zook was one of the 
largest land-owners of Wayne County at 
the time of his death, leaving thirteen 
quarter sections, which he had acquired by 
his own exertions and the labor of his own 
hands. This land was, by his will, to be 
equally divided among his children. He 
died in the eighty-fourth year of his age. 
Joshua Zook, son of John and Catherine 
(Weidman) Zook, was born in 1812, and 



was five years old when his father set- 
tled in Ohio. His early life was spent on 
the farm, and in 1837 he removed to Stark 
County, Ohio, where he settled on land 
owned by his father. He remained there 
until March, 1849, when he returned to 
Wayne County, and purchased 135 acres 
of land in Wayne Township, where he re- 
mained until his death, August 31, 1882. 
He was married to Magdalen a Troyer, 
daughter of Henry Troyer, a noted hunter 
in his day. Seven children were born to 
this couple, six of whom grew to maturity. 
J. D. Zook, the third child of Joshua 
and Magdalena, was born October 7, 1839. 
He received his education at the common 
schools and academies in Wayne County. 
Since 1860 Mr. Zook has been engaged 
in teaching school, and now holds a certif- 
icate from the County Board of Examin- 
ers which remains valid for five years. 
His school-teaching has mostly been done 
during the winter mouths, while he 
devotes his summers to farming. Mr. 
Zook was married, in 1865, to Mary L, 
Antles, daughter of T. F. and Anna 
(Hough) Antles. Four children have 
been born to this couple, of whom but 
two survive: Sylvia L. and Howard 
Chauncey. Mr. Zook has been assessor 
and township clerk, and in 1887 was 
elected justice of the peace in his town- 
ship. He is a member of the United 
Brethren Church, and in politics is a 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



127 



Democrat. Mr. Zook is placed among 
the most progressive aud enlightened 
men in Wayne Township, and is highly 
respected and cordially liked liy all who 
know him. 



MICHAEL COTTERMAN was born 
April 4r, 1847, near Apple Creek, 
J I -^ Wayne Co., Ohio, and is a son of 
Hosea and Laviua (Klein) Cotter- 
man, natives of Berks County, Penn. His 
father came to Wayne County about 1825, 
when a single man. He was a shoe- 
maker by trade, and after his marriage 
located in East Union Township, Wayne 
County, where he died in 1886. He was 
a prominent member of the German Re- 
formed Church. His widow resides on 
the homestead. Their children who are 
living are Abraham, a resident of East 
Union Township; Celestia. now Mrs. 
Abraham Boyer, residing on the home- 
stead, and Michael. 

The subject of this memoir attended 
the district schools, and at the age of 
eighteen learned the trade of shoemak- 
ing. He lived in Fredericksburgh, Ohio, 
for some yeai-s. In 1875 he came to Ap- 
ple Creek, where he has since been en- 
gaged in his business as dealer in and 
manufacturer of boots and shoes. Mr. 



Cotterman was married in 1881 to Miss 
Hannah Elizabeth, daughter of Henry 
Burbridge, of West Virginia. Mr. Cotter- 
man is one of the borough councilmen, 
and is treasurer of Apple Creek Lodge, 
I. O. O. F. Mrs. Cotterman is a mem- 
ber of the Baptist Church, while he at- 
tends the Methodist Episcopal Church. 



If AMES JEFFERY was born in Con- 
>> I gress Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
"— ^ in 1825, and is a son of John 
and Mary Jeffery, former of whom was a 
native of County Down, Ireland. In 
1819 the parents immigrated to America 
with their four children, born in Ireland, 
viz.: William, Nancy, Jane and Eliza. 
The family located in the same year near 
Salem, in Wayne County, Ohio, and after 
landing on this soil Archibald was born 
in Baltimore, Md., and John and James 
near West Salem, Wayne County. James, 
the subject of this memoir, attended the 
public schools of Congress Township, 
Wayne County, and followed agricultural 
pursuits until 1871, when he began read- 
ing law, and in 1873 he was admitted to 
the bar. Mr. Jeffery practiced his pro- 
fession in the Wayne County courts twelve 
years, since when he has resided near 
Blachleyville, Plain Township, where he 



128 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



has followed farming and the manufacture 
of drain tile. 

He was married in 1847 to Ellen Reed, 
of Wayue County, Ohio, who died May 8, 
1848. He afterward, in 1851, married 
Sarah Myers, of Medina County, Ohio, 
who bore him six children, viz. : Ellen 
Jane, Florilla A., Sarah A., Eveline F., 
John Fremont Dayton (who died August 
29, 1881) and Chever (who died when 
two years old, September 7, 1863), the 
mother dying the same day. In 1863 
Mr. Jeffery took for his third wife Eliza 
A. Myers (sister to his previous wife), 
and she died November 29, 1865, leaving 
no children. Mr. Jeffery then married, 
February 10, 1866, Marietta Barnes, of 
Medina County, Ohio, who bore him five 
children, viz. : Clara E., boru December 
9, 1866, died October 10, 1882; James, 
born September 29, 1870, and died at the 
age of three months; Owen L., born June 
5, 1872; Alta E., born July 30, 1875, and 
Lennie A. R., boru January 8, 1879. 
Sarah A., Mr. Jeffery's daughter by his 
second wife, is now practicing medicine 
at Greenwich, Ohio, having graduated 
from Erie Medical College, at Cleveland, 
Ohio, in February, 1883. 

Mr. Jeffery was elected in April, 1888, 
a justice of the peace on the Republican 
ticket, by a handsome majority, in Plain 
Township, and in 1876 was elected mayor 
of West Salem by an overwhelming major- 



ity. During slavery days he was a " con- 
ductor" on the "underground railway," 
which ran into freedom many a blood- 
hound-hunted slave, and in 1860 he voted 
for Gerrit Smith, the Abolition candidate 
for President. Mr. Jeffery has on his 
farm in Plain Township a bed of potter's 
clay, fifty-three feet in thickness, from 
which he manufactures tile, etc., of which 
he has had samples tested, with a result 
that promises a valuable addition to the 
many industries of Wayue County. 




LLEN GREELT, JR. Allen Gree- 
ly (deceased) was born in North 
Yarmouth, Me., May 15, 1781, 
and died October 25, 1866. He was 
a fellow student with Daniel Webster at 
Dartmouth College, graduating one year 
after Webster. His wife, Eunice Jones 
Greely, was born in 1801, and died in 
1841. Allen Greely, Jr., the subject of 
this memoir, was boru in Turner, Andros- 
coggin Co., Me., March 16, 1837, and 
at the early age of four years was be- 
reft of the care and kindness of a mother. 
His father was a Congregational minister, 
and served as pastor at Turner, Me., 
from 1810 to 1845. Young Allen attended 
the common schools until his fourteenth 
year, when he entered Hampden Acade- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



129 



my, Maine, and there pursued bis studies 
one year. He was a schoolmate of Eugene 
Hale, United States Senator from Maine, 
in the old town of Turner. 

When fifteen years old Mr. Greely 
boarded a merchant sailing ship, and for 
three years was a sailor on her, woi'king 
before the mast, and making several voy- 
ages to remote parts of the globe. Among 
other ports he touched at were Liver- 
pool (England), Isle of Wight, Cardiif, 
(Wales), Eio Janeiro (South America), 
etc., and he made several voyages to the 
West Indies. In 1857 Mr. Greely worked 
by the month on sailing vessels, plying on 
the lakes between Buffalo and Chicago, 
and for two seasons he " sailed the lakes." 
At the age of twenty -two he retired from 
sea-faring life, and became a citizen of 
Wayne County, Ohio, locating at West 
Salem in 1858. 

On March 27, 1859, Mr. Greely mar- 
ried Miss Nancy Jane, daughter of John 
G. Ford, another of the early settlers of 
Wayne County, Ohio. Since coming here 
Mr. Greely has been engaged in various 
lines of business, and since 1874 he has 
been associated with others in the mer- 
chant milling. He is considered an up- 
right, prudent and enterprising business 
man and excellent neighbor. In politics he 
is a Democrat. He has served oae term as 
township clerk and two terms as township 
treasurer ; was village clerk for eight years, 



and is now, and has been for fourteen suc- 
cessive years, a member of the village 
Board of Education. 



'JT^ ICHARD VAN BUREN PINK- 
rp^ ERTON (deceased) was born at 
J] ^ Mount Eaton, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
April 17, 1834, a son of James Y. 
and Lydia (Beam) Pinkerton. His 
grandjiarents, Richard and Sarah (Young) 
Pinkerton, were natives of Somerset 
County, Penn., and came to Wayne Coun- 
ty, Ohio, in 1820, where they entered 
several tracts of land in Paint Township, 
and here made their home the rest of 
their lives. But one of their family is 
living, Matthew Pinkerton, who is now a 
resident of Wooster, Ohio. 

Their eldest son, James Y., was born 
in Somerset County, Penn., in 1802, and 
accompanied his parents to Wayne 
County in 1820. He became one of the 
prominent citizens of the county, and his 
opinion and advice were considered of 
great moment by his friends and acquaint- 
ances. He learned the art of civil en- 
gineering in his youth, and in addition to 
attendinjj to the work of his farm was 
employed both by the county and private 
individuals in surveying and laying out 
plats, etc., much of the work of this kind 



130 



WATXE COUXTY. 



in his earlier life being done bj him. In 
politics he was a Democrat taking an act- 
ive part in the political issues of the 
dar. He served one term as county com- 
missioner, was justice of the peace of 
Paint Township for a great many years, 
and held all the offices in the gift of the 
people. He was a public-spirited, enter- 
prising man. and in addition to all his 
other interests owned and operated a tan- 
nerv at Mount Eaton for a number of 
years. He was reared in the faith of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, of which 
he became a member, and for many years 
was a class leader and recording steward. 
He was married in 1S3'2 to Lydia. daugh- 
ter of Christopher Beam, of Paint Town- 
ship, and to them were bom five children : 
Bichard Van Buren, Sarah Elizabeth. 
Marian E. (wife of George W. Boss, of 
Sugar Creek Township). Lydia Jane 
(wife of G. W. Carey, of Millersburgh i. 
and Felicia P.. wife of Lewis Knoble. 
also of Millersburgh I. The father died 
in 1875, and the mother makes her home 
with her children. 

Richard Tan Buren Pinkerton was reared 
on the homestead farm in Paint Town- 
ship, and was given good educational ad- 
vantages, attending the township school 
and Delaware College. He learned civil 
engineering of his father, and followed 
that business in connection with farm- 
ing, and became one of the successful 



men of the township. He was married 
in 1878 to Miss Ellen B. Blanchard. a 
daughter of D. A- and Julia ( Dodez) 
Blanchard. of Paint Township. Mr. and 
Mrs. Pinkerton had a family of three 
children: Minnie Blanche. James Win- 
field and Flora Edith. Mr. Pinkerton 
became a member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church at an early age, and was 
ever after an active worker, taking an 
especial interest in Sunday-school work, 
and for several years was engaged in 
ministerial work, being an ordained local 
minister of his church. In his early 
life he was a Democrat, but later became 
identified with the Prohibition party, and 
in ISSO was the party's candidate for 
State senator. Mr. Pinkerton died July 
2. 18S3: Mis. Pinkerton resides on the 
homestead farm with her children. She 
is an estimable lady, a prominent member 
of the Methodist Church, and a repre- 
sentative of one of the early families of 
Paint Township. 



b 



GUIS DODEZ (deceased J was one 
of the early settlers of Paint Town- 

■ ship. He was bom in Switzerland 
in 1797. and was there reared, and mar- 
ried Marrianne Favret In 1S31 they 
came to America, their familv at that 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



131 



time consisting of but one child, tlieir 
son, Louis August. Landing in New 
York, they set out for Massillon, Ohio, 
and walked the entire distance. From 
Massillon they proceeded to Wayne 
County, and located in Paint Township, on 
the farm now owned by D. A. Blanchard. 
Mr. Dodez was an energetic, enterprising 
man, and was always active in promoting 
the public welfare of his township. He 
was an earnest member of the Reformed 
Church, and was one of the most liberal 
donators toward the building of their 
church at Mount Eaton. 

He died June 21, 1872, his widow sur- 
viving him sixteen years, and dying March 
28, 1888, aged ninety-two years and nine 
months. Their family consisted of three 
children, viz.: Louis A., of Paint Town- 
ship; Lena O., wife of Ulysses Chatelain, 
and Julia, wife of D. A. Blanchard. 



E 



LI SNELL, one of the enterprising 
manufacturers of Wayne County, 
^ was born December 28, 1830, a son 
of Jacob and Margaret (Smith) Snell, 
natives of York County, Penn., who came 
to Wayne County in 1846, and rented a 
farm in Wayne Township. They afterward 
purchased a farm in Canaan Township, 
where the father was killed by accident, in 



1882, while crossing the railroad track at 
Wooster. He was a member of the Lu- 
theran Church of Canaan Township. His 
widow still survives him, and lives on the 
homestead. They reared a family of 
ten children, record of whom is as fol- 
lows: Those deceased are Jerry, who was 
a member of Company H, Sixteenth Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, and died of typhoid 
fever while in pi'ison, and Magdalene ; the 
living are Eli, Henry and John, in Ca- 
naan Township, Wayne County; Frank, 
in Eichland County, Ohio; George, on the 
homestead; Adaline, wife of Samuel L. 
Whonsettle, of Canaan Township, and 

Catherine and Emeline, on the homestead. 
[ 
I Eli Snell early learned the trade of a 

carriage-maker, and in 1854 established 
his present wagon and carriage manufact- 
uring business at Canaan. In 1855 he 
married Sarah, daughter of Jacob Freese, 
of Wayne Township, Wayne County, and 
she died January 10, 1875. They reared 
six children: Viola, wife of William 
Barnes, of Canaan Township; Edith, who 
died at the age of nineteen ; Mina, wife of 
George Whonsettle, of Canaan Township; 
Jerry, at home; Emogene, wife of John 
Sholl, of Canaan Township (has one child, 
Hugh); May, at home. Mr. Snell was 
again married, on this occasion to Martha 
J., daughter of Alex Hordy, of Chester 
Township, Wayne County (she died May 
24, 1882, leaving two children, Frank and 



132 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Leila). In 1862 Mr. Snell was elected 
township treasurer, and has since held 
that office; has also served as school di- 
rector, supervisor, etc. He is a member 
of Sterling Council No. 173, K. of P., and 
leader in the Canaan Methodist Episcopal 
Church. He is a Republican in politics, 
and takes an active interest in the party. 



DA. BLANCHARD was born in 
I Switzerland, November 8, 1825. 
— ' He lived in his native country un- 
til manhood, and in 1854 came to America, 
coming direct to Wayne County, and lo- 
cating in Paint Township. He was given 
good educational advantages in his native 
country, and after reaching manhood be- 
came a soldier in the army, and rose to the 
rank of major. 

He was married in Wayne County, in 
1855, to Miss Julia Dodez, a native of 
Wayne County, Ohio, daughter of Louis 
and Marrianne (Favret) Dodez, natives 
of Switzerland. To Mr. and Mrs. Blanch- 
ard were born four children: Ellen L. is 
widow of R. Van B. Pinkerton, and has 
three children: Minnie Blanche, James 
Winfield and Flora Edith; Louis D., a vet- 
erinary surgeon of Canton, Ohio; Ali E., 
of Canton, who married Ella Gerber, and 
has two children: Hazel May and Flora; 



and Flora L., who died December 29, 
1885, was the wife of H. A. Hoffstott. 
Mr. Blanchard is a Democrat in his polit- 
ical views. He and his wife are members 
of the Reformed Church. 



DANIEL V. HUFFMAN, one of the 
substantial and enterprising citi- 
zens of Doylestown, Wayne Coun- 
ty, was born in Chippewa Township, 
Wayne Co., Ohio, in April, 1830, a son of 
Daniel and Abigail (Franks) Huffman. 
His paternal grandfather was Daniel 
Huffman, a native of Switzerland, whose 
wife was Anne Hook. They immigrated 
to America in 1803, locating in Washing- 
ton County, Penn., and in 1814 they set- 
tled in Chippewa Township, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, where they resided until their 
deaths. Their family consisted of two sons 
and three daughters, viz. : Daniel, Barbara 
(Mrs. Michael Keifer), Ann (Mrs. John 
Barker), Jacob, and Elizabeth (Mrs. John 
Elder. Of these, Daniel, father of the 
subject of this sketch, was born in Switz- 
erland, came to America with his parents 
in 1803, and settled in Chippewa Town- 
ship, Wayne County, in 1814. He cleared 
and improved a farm in that township, 
and died in 1869, in his seventieth year. 
He was twice married, his first wife being 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



133 



I 



Abigail, daugliter of Henry Franks, a 
native of Pennsylvania, and a pioneer of 
Chippewa Township. By this union there 
were born five children who grew to ma- 
turity: Abrani, Eliza (Mrs. Jacob Bay- 
singer), Ephraim, Daniel V. and Christian. 
His second wife was Anna, daughter of 
Jacob Huffman, of Chippewa Township, 
Wayne County, formerly of Switzerland, 
by whom he had six children: Wesley A., 
Mary E., Franklin J., Milton, Artlissa 
and Clara. 

Daniel V. Huffman was reared in his 
native townsiiip, where he received a 
common-school education, and began life 
as a teacher, a profession he followed for 
six years during the winter months, work- 
ing on the farm in the summer time. In 
1850 he began the study of civil engi- 
neering under County Surveyor Campbell 
Bell, and has since followed that profes- 
sion thirty-eight years. Besides other 
work in his line he did most of the min- 
ing engineering in his vicinity during 
that time. In 1861 he became superin- 
tendent of the Silver Creek Mining Com- 
pany's coal mines, and held that respon- 
sible position for twenty-one years. In 
1882 he became associated in the hard- 
ware business with his brother, Wesley 
A. Huffman, from which he retired in 1886. 
The subject of this memoir was twice 
married, first to Susan, daughter of Lewis 
Miller, of Canal Fulton, Ohio, and by 



her he has one son living, Isaac W. Mr. 
Huffman's present wife is Catherine, 
daughter of Christian Wilhelm, of Me- 
dina County, Ohio, and she has borne him 
three children, living: Sherman J., Eliza 
and Cora. 

Mr. Huffman has been a resident of 
Doylestown, Chippewa Township, since 
1871, and hrts always taken an active part 
in public affairs of the town, though he 
has never held or sought office. He owns 
a half interest in the Huffman block, one 
of the leading business structures in 
Doylestown. He paid nearly one-seventh 
of the expense of erecting the beautiful 
Methodist Episcopal Church edifice (built 
in 1885), of which church he is an active 
member, and collected the balance of the 
subscription for the same. He is a mem- 
ber of the Odd Fellows order. In poli- 
tics he has always been an ardent Ee- 
publican. 




^ESLEY SPANGLEK, ex-county 
commissioner and farmer, was 
born in Cumberland County, 
Penn., in 1825, near the county seat, 
Carlisle. Yost Spangler was the name 
of the pioneer of this family, who, when 
eighteen years old, in 1769, left Germany 
and came to America. He settled in 



134 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Berks County, Peun., and there was en- 
gaged in surveying. He was twice mar- 
ried, the names of his wives, wlio were 
sisters, being Weinholt. Eight cliildren 
were born to him, their names being 
John, Philip, Samuel, Peter, Mary and 
Barbara, by the first wife; and by the 
second wife, Hannah and Yost. From 
Berks County this pioneer moved to Lan- 
caster County, and then to Cumberland 
County, where he followed farming for a 
number of years previous to his death. 
Peter Spangler was the fourth sou born 
to Yost Spangler. He was a native of 
Lancaster County, born in 1791, and mar- 
ried Susan Zinn. Of the ten children 
born to this union seven are now living, 
whose names are George, Peter, Wesley, 
Mary, Rebecca, Lorinda and Elmira. In 
1829 Peter Spangler, with his wife and 
five children, immigrated to Wayne Town- 
ship, Wayne Co., Ohio, and purchased 
fifty acres of land, formerly the property 
of A. McMonegal, and at his death owned 
130 acres of laud. He was a cooper by 
trade, and followed that in connection 
with farming for forty years. He was a 
successful man, being left but a small 
amount of money by his father. He died 
in 18(33, at the age of seventy years. 

Wesley Spangler, the subject of our 
shetch, was educated in the common 
schools of the county and at an academj' 
at Canaan Center. Farming has been his 



occupation through life, at which he has 
been successful. He was married in 1854 
to Malinda Stair, and three children, all 
living, are the result of this union: Viola 
and Arabella, now engaged in teaching 
school, having been students at Smithville 
Academy and Normal School, and Charles 
W., engaged in farming. Mr. Spangler 
has resided in Chester Township since 
the spring of 1859, when he purchased 
his present home farm of 115 acres of 
land. He was elected county commis- 
sioner in the fall of 1881, and re-elected 
in 1884, a rai-e incident for a Republican, 
the county being Democratic. For twelve 
years he was justice of the peace of his 
township. He and his wife and daughters 
are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church at Congress. 



P^EORGE BARTOL. This old and 
esteemed citizen of Wooster, Wayne 
Co., Ohio, was born in Middletown, 
Dauphin Co., Penn., February 2, 
1814, and is a son of Mathias and Elizabeth 
(Jontz) Bartol, both also natives of Penn- 
sylvania. They were the parents of three 
sons and three daughters, of whom our 
subject and his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Van 
Houten, of Wooster, are the sole survivors. 
[Of the latter a sketch will be found on 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



135 



another page in this volume.] The par- 
ents came to Wayne County in the sum- 
mer of 1831, and lived hej-e the remainder 
of their lives. The father was a shoe- i 
maker, and worked at that trade both in 
Pennsylvania and Ohio. He was called to 
his final rest in 1843, at the age of sixty- 
two. His wife survived him twenty 
years, dying in 1863, at the age of 
seventy-two. 

George Bartol in his youth had but lim- 
ited opportunities for education. He was 
in his eighteenth 3'ear when he accompa- 
nied his parents to Wayne County, with 
whose interests he has ever since been 
identified. From his father he learned 
the trade of shoemaking, and after the lat- 
ter's death he carried on a shop for 
more than twenty years. For eight years 
he lived on a farm which he had purchased 
north of Wooster. In 1862 he purchased 
his present pleasant and commodious 
home, which he later sold, but in 1883 
he repurchased and removed into it. May 
4, 1843, Mr. Bartol took for a life partner 
Miss Jane Brown, daughter of Samuel and 
Sarah (Armstrong) Brown, of Salt Creek 
Township, Wayne County, where she was 
born August 20, 1823, her parents having ' 
been among its earliest settlers. They 
have had no children of their own, but 
adopted and reared two girls, one of whom 
is Mrs. Margaret Gable, of San Francisco, 
Cal., and the other, who was the wife of 



Dr. Mower, of Wooster, passed from earth 
July 10, 1886. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bartol have for many years 
been highly esteemed members of the 
Methodist Ejjiscopal Church, and both are 
by their consistent Christian life endeared 
to all who know them and are everywhere 
held in the highest regard. Mr. Bartol has 
made his own way in the world, his suc- 
cess being the result of his own well-di- 
rected efforts, seconded by a capable and 
affectionate wife, who has been indeed a 
helpmate to him. 




\ILLIAM GEARHART, a resident 
of over sixty years in Wayne 
County, is a native of Northum- 
berland County, Peuu., born September 8, 
1808, son of Timos and Lorena (Gulichs) 
Gearhart, and grandson of Jacob Gearhart. 
The parents were natives of New Jersey, 
and came to Wayne County, Ohio, in 1822, 
where they died, the father at the age of 
eighty-two, and the mother when fifty- 
four years old. 

The subject of this memoir received an 
ordinary common-school education, and 
learned the trades of stone-mason and 
cooper, at which he worked for some time, 
and then commenced farming. June 28, 
1830, he married, in Wayne County. Mary 



136 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Dirck, daughter of Jacob and Catherine 
(First) Dirck, and a native of Pennsyl- 
vania. When a chikl she came with her 
parents to Wayne County, Ohio, where 
she grew to womanhood. Six children 
were born to Mr. and Mrs. Gearhart, viz. : 
Loreua, Catherine and Julia Ann, all de- 
ceased ; Jacob, in Canaan Township ; Isaac, 
on the homstead, and Samantha, now Mrs. 
H. Conahay. Their first farm was a wild 
piece of timber-land, in which deer and 
wolves roamed at will, and this, by hard 
labor, Mr. and Mrs. Gearhart converted 
into a fertile farm. Here they resided 
some forty years, and in 1809 came to 
their present commodious and pleasant 
home, situated in the eastern part of 
Bloomington, and here they have made 
all the improvements. At one time Mr. 
Gearhart owned 793 acres of land, but has 
divided it into farms, giving a portion to 
his children. Mrs. Gearhart died May 
23, 1889, aged eighty-one years, and, al- 
though having been a victim of typhoid 
fever several times, she was remarkably 
well preserved. She and her husband 
were members of the Presbyterian Church 
of Wooster. 

Their son, Isaac, was born in April, 
1834, and has all his life followed farm- 
ing. With true filial affection he has all 
along remained with his parents. He is a 
member of the Presbyterian Church, and 
is much esteemed by all who know him. 



AMUEL SWARTZ was born in 
Union County, Penn., June 3, 1816, 
and in 1819 came to Ohio with his 
parents, his father, John Swartz, settling 
in Canaan Township, Wayne County. At 
the age of eighteen (in 1831) Samuel 
first came on his future homestead, hiring 
out to John Miller, who had recently 
bought the tract of the Government, same 
being then regarded as mostly waste and 
swamp lands. Mr. Swartz continued to 
work as a hired hand at clearing the then 
iinbroken wilderness, in company with 
his brother John, until 1839, in which 
year he was married to Mary Miller, 
daughter of his employer, a young lady 
of scarce sixteeii summers. Mr. Swartz 
departed this life, at his residence in Mil- 
ton Township, October 15, 1885, in the 
seventieth year of his age. His widow 
survives him, having lived on the same 
farm since the age of six years, and in 
the companionship of the departed for 
more than fifty years, their friendship 
antedating their marriage by several 
years. Mr. Swartz was always strong, 
robust and hearty, and an indefatigable 
worker. Under the ringing blows of his 
ax, which he could wield with marvelous 
skill, the dense forest on his land was 
swept away, and by the careful culture of 
later years his farm became noted as one 
of the finest in the country. He was a 
model farmer, taking the lead in hus- 




^O^I^tK C / ^ f^ft '/'4Jt£ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



131) 



baudry of every kind; was enterprising 
and thrifty, and prosperity constantly 
waited upon him to crown his honest toil. 
He was a man of strong will and docided 
conTictious of right and duty; and while 
these traits sometimes produced friction 
in his dealings with others, his honesty 
and integrity no one could question ; as a 
neighbor he was generous and helpful 
and a true friend; from every vice he was 
remarkably free, and he had but little 
sympathy for any form of it in others. 
Of pure thought, he never uttered a pro- 
fane word, or indulged in slang or vulgar 
speech of any kind; in dress and living 
he was plain, and in all his habits 
strictly temperate. Under the daily in- 
spiration of such an example, it is not to 
be wondered that every member of his 
large family grew to maturity free from 
every form of vice. Mr. Swartz was pub- 
lic-spirited, and at different times he was 
elected to offices of public trust, which he 
filled creditably. Industrious and eco- 
nomical, at the age of forty he found him- 
self free from debt, and most of his sub- 
sequent earnings he expended in the 
education and culture of his children. 

He was the father of twelve children, 
ten of whom, six sous and four daughters, 
survive him, and with their children, num- 
bering in all nearly forty, were present at 
his funeral. To his six sons he gave a 
complete collegiate education, some of them 



taking a post-graduate course; the advan- 
tages of a higher education he also afforded 
his daughters, according to their choice. 
His eldest son, John M., graduated at 
Granville, Ohio, in 1809, and is now a 
prominent lawyer of Newark, and pros- 
ecuting attorney of Licking County, Ohio; 
Hiram B. graduated from the literary 
and law department of Michigan Uni- 
versity in 1872, and was elected probate 
judge of Wayne County in 1887, which 
position he is now occu})ying; he was also 
mayor of the city of Wooster, Ohio, from 
1877 to 1881; Franklin P. graduated at 
Granville in 1(370, and from Rochester 
Theological Seminary in 1878 (was pas- 
tor of the Baptist Church at Loudonville, 
Ohio, for nine years, and is now pastor of 
the Baptist Church of Portsmouth, Ohio) ; 
Samiiel E. graduated at Granville in 
1879, and has ever since been principal of 
the Newark public schools; Douglas A. 
graduated from Adelbert College, Cleve- 
land, Ohio, in 1884, after which he was ap- 
pointed by Gov. Hoadly to a position in 
the Cleveland Asylum for the In.sane, 
which he resigned to enter upon the study 
of medicine in the Medical College of Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, whence he graduated in 
1888, (he is now engaged in the practice 
of his chosen profession in Canton, Ohio) : 
Ulysses G. graduated from Adelbert Col- 
lege in 1886, and located in Wooster, this 
county, where he is engaged in the manu 



140 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



facture and sale of paints and varnishes, 
being at the head of the Wooster Paint 
Works in that city. Of the daughters, Ade- 
line lives with her children near Sterling, 
Ohio, her husband, H. G. Zeigler, having 
died in 1879 ; Isabella is the widow of M. H. 
Murdock, of Kittman, Ohio; Sarah E. is 
the wife of L. B. Harris, of Newark, Ohio, 
and Ellen A. is the wife of Christopher 
Blankenhoru, a thrifty farmer of Milton 
Township, having bought the old home 
farm. 

Mr. Swartz lived to see all his children 
converted and united with the Baptist 
Church, and took great comfort in their 
activity in Sunday-school and church 
work. In politics he was a life-long Dem- 
ocrat of the Jeffersonian school, and his 
political faith he inculcated on his sons. 
He eschewed all public amusements, and 
successfully impressed his convictions 
upon every one of his children. He was 
converted at an early age, and united with 
the Dunkard Church, the cardinal doc- 
trines of which faith he ever stoutly de- 
fended. With his brethren on some mat- 
ters of dress and education he differed, 
and so drifted from them, but not from 
the hope of the gospel. As his children 
grew up nnd united with the Baptist 
Church, he, with his wife, joined that 
church at Sterling, Ohio, and he was 
chosen deacon. A man of prayer it was 
his custom to close every day with fam- 



ily devotions, and here it was he gave 
best expression to his inner life and the 
desires of his soul. He prayed ever for his 
children, the church and the triumph of 
the gospel in the world, his love for all 
which was never-failing. Indeed, his ar- 
dent zeal for purity in life and doctrine in 
the membership and ministry of the church 
somewhat marred the peace of his latter 
years. 

He was impatient that sin in any 
form should enter the household of faith. 
To his strong nature what seemed to some 
to be faults appeared to him as vices not to 
be endured; yet he forgave and forgot 
all personal wrongs, and died at peace with 
the whole world. 

On May 4, 1881, he was stricken with 
partial paralysis, from which he never 
fully recovered. On Christmas day, 1883, 
he fell and broke his hip-bone, which 
hastened his end. His eyesight failed so 
he could not read, and thus he quietly 
suffered and waited, longing for the end 
to come, his mind continuing rational 
until the last. Surrounded by his large 
family of loving sous and daughters, and 
his ever faithful wife, who ministered to 
him as an angel of mercy throughout all 
his years of suffering, he folded his arms 
and closed his eyes in the calm embrace 
of death. Thus ended a long and useful 
life; thus lived and died another of that 
noble baud of pioneers whose strong arms 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



141 



and brave hearts made the wilderness here 
to "blossom as the rose. " 

A man of pure thoughts and words, 
and of upright life, the memory of Sam- 
uel Swartz will live in his children whom 
he blessed. His fellow-citizens will cher- 
ish his good example, mentioning his 
name in after years as one whom the 
community delighted to honor. His 
neighbors and friends will remember him 
as one who loved integrity and hated 
iniquity, a good-natured, cordial, honest 
man; and his brethren in the church will 
not forget the words of counsel, faith and 
hope which in the day of his strength he 
ever gave the cause he loved. He was 
interred in the family burying-ground, in 
the old church-yard on the hill, on the 
Saturday following his demise, the fu- 
neral services, which were unusually 
impressive, being held at the Sterling 
Baptist Church, Rev. P. J. Ward, pastor, 
conducting, assisted by Rev. William F. 
Slocum, pastor of the Baptist Church at 
Wooster. The texts and sacred songs for 
the occasion were selected as those best 
loved and oftenest repeated by the de- 
parted. At his special request, his six 
sons acted as pall-bearers. Truly, of him 
it may be said; "His end is peace, and 
the memory of the just is blessed." 

The above tribute is not an imaginary 
sketch, but was largely copied from the 
local papers printed soon after his death. 



E 



LIZABETH VAN HOUTEN, the 
widow of Philo S. Van Houteu, 
and a sister of Mr. George Bar- 
tol, a well-known citizen of Wayne 
County, was born in Elizabeth town, Lan- 
caster Co., Penn., in 1820, a daugh- 
ter of Mathias and Elizabeth (Jontz) 
Bartol, of whom reference is made in 
sketch of George Bartol. She was a 
girl of eleven years when her parents re- 
moved to this county, which has over 
since been her home. At the age of nine- 
teen, January 2, 1840, Miss Bartol was 
united in marriage with Philo S. Van Hout- 
en, son of Jacob and Sarah (Starr) Van 
Houten, who was born in Marcellus, On- 
ondaga Co., N. Y., December 25, 1810, 
and came when young Avith his parents 
to Ohio, they settling in Plymouth, Rich- 
land County. Here young Philo obtained 
such education as was afforded by the 
schools of that day, and when a young 
man became a clerk in a dry goods store 
in Wooster, continuing in that occupation 
for a number of years. 

For some time after their marriage the 
young couple continued to reside in 
Wooster, but later removed to Rowsburg, 
Ohio, where, however, they lived but 
three years, when they returned to Woos- 
ter, which they made their permanent 
home. In 1850 Mr. Van Houteu became 
teller of the Wayne County Bank — now 
Wayne County National Bank — and at 



142 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



the time of his death was its cashier, 
serving faithfully, and with a slight ex- 
ception continuously, for thirty-one years, 
an ordinary generation. After laboring 
incessantly for twenty-three years as 
teller, he withdi'ew to take a needed rest, 
but soon found that an active life had be- 
come a necessity of his nature, and he 
accepted the position of cashier in the 
National Bank of Wooster, but in a year 
returned to the place where he had served 
so long and well, and was cashier until he 
died, April 9, 1881. 

Mr. Van Houteu was an ardent Repub- 
lican in his political belief, but never a 
place-hunter. He was elected trustee of 
Wooster township in 1846, 1851, 1865 
and in 1878, and was treasurer of the town- 
ship in 1858. In 1879 he was the Repub- 
lican candidate for county treasurer. For 
many years he was a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, having been treasurer 
of Ebenezer Lodge No. 33 of Wooster as 
far back as 1848, and worshipful master 
in 1853. He was always known as a 
zealous, conscientious Mason, in whom 
the cardinal principles were fully exem- 
plified. He was a man of irreproachable 
private character, whose domestic life 
and habits were of that quiet and un- 
ostentatious kind so well calculated to 
endear him to family and friends. In 
his capacity as cashier of the Wayne 
County National Bank he had an enviable 



reputation among business men. Uni- 
versally respected for his strict integrity, 
good judgment and careful attention to 
business, he was considered a model bank 
officer, and his loss was deeply felt by 
those he so long and faithfully served. 
As a citizen he was held in high esteem, 
and his popularity among all classes is 
attested by the fact no man, perhaps, in 
Wayne County had fewer enemies. Ever 
generous, charitable and liberal minded, 
he was a man whose virtues are worthy 
of emulation, and whose memory will 
not soon be forgotten. 

Since her husband's death Mrs. Van 
Houten has continued to reside in the 
house where they had passed together 
so many happy years. Nine children 
had come to bless their union, only four 
of whom, however, now survive, as fol- 
lows: Mary, now Mrs. Wellington Curry, 
in Toledo, Ohio; Emma, Mrs. John 
Hankey, in Bowling Green; Edward, in 
California, and Anna, Mrs. Frank Eshel- 
man, in Wooster. Those deceased are 
Jane (Mrs. Lee Scobey, who died in 
Wooster), Harry, Charles, John and Car- 
oline (who died in Wooster in infancy). 
Like her late husband, Mrs. Van Houten 
is a sincere and consistent member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and is an 
ardent advocate of the cause of temper- 
ance, and a member of the organization 
known as the Evergreen Social Temple. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



143 



By everyone who knows her she is justly 
held in high esteem for the many good 
qualities which adorn her character. 



THOMAS P. BAUMGARDNER is 
one of Wooster's well-known citi- 
zens and business men, and propri- 
etor of the business place known as 
the "Double Store.'" He is a native of 
the Keystone State, born in Northampton 
County November 13, 1827. His father, 
Peter Baumgardner, was born in Ger- 
many, and came in boyhood to the United 
States. Upon reaching manhood he was 
united in marriage with Catherine Heller, 
a native of Pennsylvania. He was a 
farmer by occupation, and in the year 
1832 removed to Ohio in search of cheaper 
land. Coming to Wayne County, he set- 
tled on a farm near Wooster, but did not 
long live to enjoy his new home, death 
claiming him about a year later. Besides 
his widow he left five children, four of 
whom are now living, viz. : Thomas P. ; 
Mary, now Mrs. George Strock, of Mill- 
brook; Julia A., Mrs. Capt. B. F. Miller, 
and L. S., who is proprietor of a large 
wholesale notion house in Toledo, Ohio. 
When Mr. Baumgardner came to Ohio 
the entire trip was made by wagon, and 
the farm which he purchased here was 



only partly improved. Before death in- 
terfered with his plans he had bought a 
home in Wooster, to which he had in- 
tended to remove. 

Our sxibject was in his seventh year 
when his father died, and in the spring 
following the widowed mother with her 
children removed to Wooster, later going 
to Salt Creek Township, where they lived 
upon a farm for several years, then re- 
turning to Wooster. Here Thomas P. 
attended school for a number of years, 
after which he served an apprenticeship 
of four years in the furniture factorj^ of 
Spear & Beistle, of Wooster. This trade 
he followed for a number of years, when 
in company with his brothers he erected 
a large building, known as the " Area- 
dome," and there started a drug business. 
This was then the only large hall in 
Wooster, and at its dedication a great 
number of people assembled, speeches 
were made, and much enthusiasm mani- 
fested. In this building the brothers 
built up a prosperous business, but in 
December, 1864, our subject sold his in- 
terest to his brothers, receiving therefor 
the sum of $16,000, and the following 
spring he purchased the American House 
block, and at once set about rebuilding 
and improving it, putting in new store- 
rooms, etc., which made it for raauj' years 
one of the finest blocks in the city. Mr. 
Baumgardner occupied one of the stores 



144 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



himself as a music store, doing a large 
trade iu musical merchandise, and also 
in piano tuning, and is still conducting 
a large business in that line. He rented 
most of the block after its rebuilding, and 
in 1881 himself removed to the store-room 
in which he is carrying on his music 
business. A prominent feature in this 
connection is the renting of pianos, which 
he carries on extensively. In 1884, the 
music business not absorbing his whole 
time, he added the shoe trade, carrying 
an extensive and varied stock of goods in 
that line, and having one of the leading 
business houses of the city. 

In 1849 Mr. Baumgardner was united 
in marriage with Miss Elizabeth M., 
daughter of Philip Smith. Their wedded 
life was made happy by the birth of ten 
children: Joseph H., Edson W., Newton 
L., James F., Harry S. and Anna (Mrs. 
J. W. Erarich), all residents of Toledo, 
Ohio; Lizzie M., at home; Thomas, Ella 
and Carrie are deceased. The daughters, 
Anna and Lizzie M., are graduates of the 
Wooster High School. Both are excel- 
lent musicians, and each is mistress of 
that difficult instrument, the pipe organ. 

Mr. and Mrs. Baumgardner and family 
are highly respected in the community ; 
she is a member of the First Presby- 
terian Church. Mr. Baumgardner is a 
member of the Knights of Honor and the 
Boyal Arcanum ; in politics he is a stanch 



and true Republican. His success in life 
is a gratifying one to him, and has been 
the more marked as he had but little aid 
in beginning his career. It is the legit- 
imate result of his good judgment and 
steady application to business, and he 
may truly be called a self-made man in 
the best sense of the word. The family 
have an elegant and commodious home on 
Buckeye and Larwill Streets, to which 
they removed in 1878. 



L 



ORENZO D. CORNELL, son of 
Jason and Rachel (Critchfield) Cor- 
nell, was born November 26, 1854. 
in Chester Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. 
Joseph Cornell, born May 3, 1760, in 
Hunterdon County, N. J., his father, the 
first of the family of whom there is rec- 
ord, came from Germany with two broth- 
ers, and located in Hunterdon County, 
N. J., but nothing is known of his brothers 
after their arrival in New Yoi'k. Joseph 
married, in New Jersey, a Miss Mary 
Vankirk, and afterward located in Alle- 
gheny County, Penn., in 1790, and to them 
four children were born: Isaac, Samuel 
B., Bela S. and Joseph C. The father 
and family moved to Mercer County, Penn., 
thence to Wayne County, Ohio, in 1813, 



WAYNE COUNT V. 



145 



locating in Franklin Township, where he 
engaged in farming. 

Of the children, Isaac married Miss 
Agnes Carson for his first wife, and for 
his second wife Priscilla Morgan, and re- 
moved to Porter Coviuty, Ind. ; both are 
now deceased, but the children still live 
there; Samuel B. married, and moved to 
Winterset, Madison Co., Iowa, since 
which little is known of him ; Bela S. 
sought a home in the West, but his local- 
ity is unknown ; Joseph C. married Eliza- 
beth Morgan, of Virginia, and eventually 
located in Franklin Township, Wayne Co., 
Ohio. Their children are Mary Jane, who 
married John Stough, and removed to 
Bible Grove, Scotland Co., Mo. (both are 
now deceased, but the children still reside 
iu Missouri) ; Alpha, who married Mary 
McCoukey, and removed to Holmes 
County, Ohio, where he died September 
2, 1888; Mercy, now Mrs. Jacob Lee, of 
Hicksville, Defiance Co., Ohio; Temper- 
ance, now Mrs. Reason Campbell, of Ful- 
ton County, Ohio; Phebe, now Mrs. 
Baize, of Fulton County, Ohio, and Ja- 
son, who married Rachel, daughter of 
Lorenzo Dow Critchfield, in 1847, and lo- 
cated in Wayne County, Ohio, where they 
remained until 1864, in which year they 
removed to Ashland County, and eventu- 
ally to Shreve, where he died July 20, 
1884. Mrs. Cornell is still a resident of 
Shreve. Their children are Milan C, 



who married Ellen Keister, and is a resi- 
dent of Shreve; Tamzer E., now Mrs. E. 
T. Shelly, of Loudonville, Ashland Co., 
Ohio; Lucius T., now a resident of 
Shreve, and Lorenzo Dow, who received 
his preliminary education iu Wayne 
County, his commercial education iu the 
business college of Valparaiso, lud., and 
is now a law student with McClure & Smy- 
ser, of Wooster. He is located at Shreve, 
engaged in the real estate business. 



I/SAAC B. DOUGLASS was bora at 
Uniontown, Fayette Co., Penn., Feb- 
-^ ruary 28, 1846, and is a son of James 
and Naomi (Brown) Douglass, also na- 
tives of Fayette County, who, in 1862, 
came to Wayne County, Ohio, and located 
on a farm in Sugar Creek Township, where 
the mother died in 1804. The father 
then married a Miss Rector, and moved 
to Missouri, where he died in 1873. Isaac 
B. Douglass, whose name heads this bio- 
graphical memoir, the only one of the 
family now living, was reared on a farm 
and educated iu the common schools. He 
followed agricultural pursuits for some 
time, but for many years has l)een en- 
gaged in the lumber business and oper- 
ating a portable saw-mill in Sugar Creek 
Township, Wayne County. 



146 



IVAYXE COUyTV. 



In 1865 he married Miss Susan, daugh- 
ter of Alexander and Mary Shauklin, who 
were among the first settlers of Sugar 
Creek Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, and 
to this union have been born nine chil- 
dren, named as follows: James U., Orpha 
A., Ira B., Howard, Henry A., Isaac A., 
Robert M., William W. and Ora May. 
Mr. Douglass, politically, is a Democrat, 
and is a vigorous and uncompromising 
exponent of the principles of his party. 
He has served as township assessor for 
four years. He is now serving his 
twelfth year as justice of the peace; has 
been school director for many years. He 
is a member of Central Lodge, No. 212, K. 
of P., of Orrville, Ohio, and is trustee 
and superintendent of the Sabbath-school 
in the Church of God (Wiuebrennerian). 



THOMAS EDSON PECKINPAUGH 
is a native of Wayne County, Ohio. 
He was born August 6, 1849, at 
Slankerville (now Easton), Chippe- 
wa Township, and, with the exception of 
about two years, has resided in the county 
ever since. On his father's side he is of 
German extraction; on his mother's, of 
English. His father, Thomas W. Peck- 
iupaugh, was born in West Virginia, and 
in 1S21, when four years of age, came to 



Wayne County with his parents. By 
hard labor, first on the farm, then in 
teaching school, and finally in the practice 
of law, he succeeded in providing a com- 
fortable living for a large family. The 
maiden name of our subject's mother was 
Jane E. Cotton, a native of New York 
State, whose grandfather was born in Bos- 
ton, Mass., and was a Revolutionary sol- 
dier. 

The subject of this sketch was given a 
fair common-school education, and devel- 
oped a bent for figures. He removed to 
Wooster in 1861 with his father, who had 
just been elected county auditor. At 
the age of thirteen he entered the audi- 
tor's office, where he served as clerk and 
deputy under four different administra- 
tions, in all about six years. In 1865 he 
entered Vermillion Institute, Hayesville, 
Ohio, where he was a student for about 
one year, and afterward taught district 
schools during two succeeding winter 
terms. In 1868-69 he was employed in 
the office of B. L. Falinestock & Co., a 
large wholesale drug house in Pittsburgh. 
Returning to Wooster in 1869, he entered 
the employ of the Commercial Bank, as 
book-keeper, and when the National Bank 
of Wooster was organized, in January, 
1872, he was appointed teller, in which 
capacity he served nearly four years. In 
1874 he was elected clerk of Wooster 
Township, serving one year, and was then 




%*-6t^ <L J 7 a. tx^vi. clCLy 






J . t . f tC ^Lyt^L^p CL^i^ /^ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



149 



elected township treasurer, a positiou he 
held four successive years. lu 1870 he 
purchased au interest in the Wayne 
Couniy Democrai, of wliich Hon. E. B. 
Eshelman was editor, managing the busi- 
ness department of that paper success- 
fully for several years, when he sold out, 
and again entered the public service, this 
time as deputy county treasurer, under 
•Toliu S. Caskey, in which office he re- 
mained four years. In his business 
career Mr. Peckinpaugh has been noted 
for his accuracy and the strictest integ- 
rity. In the winter of 1878 he founded 
the Royal Arcanum Journal, a monthly 
publication in the interest of the benefi- 
ciary society whose name it bears. Find- 
ing the occupation of journalism agree- 
able, he has ever since continued this 
publication in connection with his other 
duties. Mr. Peckinpaugh was married 
October 14, 1880, to Miss Kate Baker, of 
W'ooster, daughter of the well-known 
architect, C C Baker, and has two chil- 
dren living, Florence M. and Helen V., a 
son having died from accident in 1885. 

A Democrat by birth and education, 
our subject early espoused the cause of 
his. party, and rendered valuable service 
as a member and secretary of the county 
executive committee. He is a consistent 
and earnest advocate of the principles of 
Democracy, but not a bitter partisan, be- 
lieving, as he does, that everything good 



is not confined to any one political party. 
In 1884 he was nominated and elected by 
a handsome majority to the office of 
county auditor for the term of three 
years. At the expiration of this time he 
was appointed by the county commis- 
sioners to fill the same office for a period 
of ten months, which appointment was 
necessitated by a change in the law fixing 
the time of taking office. In November, 
1887, he was re-elected, by the largest 
majority given to anj^ candidate upon the 
ticket, for another term of three years, 
and, should he live to fill out the full 
time, will have the honor of having 
served his county as auditor for a longer 
period than any of his predecessors. At 
the city election in April, 1889, against 
his wishes, he was placed upon the ticket 
for member of the Board of Education of 
Wooster, and was elected by a large ma- 
jority. Considering his years, he has re- 
ceived marked political honors. Recog- 
nizing the great work of benevolence 
which is being carried forward by the 
various fraternal secret societies, he has 
become identified with some of them. 
He is a member of the Masonic frater- 
nity, having taken all the degrees up to 
and including that of Knight Templar. 
At the organization of Wooster Com- 
mandery, K. T., on July 2, 1889, he was 
made first eminent commander. He is 
also a past great sachem of the Im- 



150 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



proved Order of Ked Men, aud has beeu 
au officer of the Supreme Council of the 
Roj'al Arcanum. He has four younger 
brothers and one sister, all living in 
Wooster. 

Whatever of success in life Mr. Peck- 
iiipangh has achieved, he says is attribu- 
table to his early parental training and 
his close application to business. He be- 
lieves in the old maxim that " whatever is 
worth doing at all is worth doing well." 



ir^' OLOMON K. PLANK, farmer, liv- 
ing ou Section 28, Greene Township, 
Wayne Co., Ohio, was born March 
17, 1837, ou the homestead, in that town- 
ship, now occupied by his mother and 
brother Samuel. His parents, Jephtha 
and Fanny (Kurtz) Plank, were born in 
Pennsylvania, the former in Mifflin and 
the latter in Huntingdon County. Grand- 
father Plank came to Wayne County, 
Ohio, while Jephtha was still a young man. 
He located in Wayne Township, and being 
quite aged, thereafter lived a retired life. 
Jephtha Plank, father of S. K., learned 
the trade of cabinet-making, and being a 
natural mechanic became very expert, 
and also was equally skillful as a worker 
in iron. Later he was equally successful 
as a practical farmer, and having bought 



the farm on Section 32, Greene Township, 
brought it into a fine state of cultivation, 
and lived thereon until his death. He 
was twice married, first to Barbara Zook, 
who died, leaving four children : Hannah, 
born May 1, 1829, is the wife of Chris- 
tian B. Brenneman, of Greene Township; 
Salome, born July 18, 1830, first married 
to Isaac Lautz, and now the wife of David 
Blough; Samuel and Barbara (twins), 
born February 23, 1832, Samuel now liv- 
ing on the homestead. His second wife 
was Fanny Kurtz, who was born June 3. 
1810, is living at the old home, aud now. 
in her seventj^-eighth year, is hale and 
hearty. She came to this county with her 
parents, Abraham and Magdalena Kurtz, 
when twenty years of age. 

They settled in Wayne Township, aud 
by hard labor made a comfortable home in 
the wilderness, in which the father died. 
After his decease the mother lived the 
rest of her life with her daughter Fanny. 
The latter was mai-ried to Jephtha Plank 
in October, 1832, and bore him eight 
children, as follows: Joseph, a farmer of 
Milton, born March 3, 1834:; an un- 
named infant, deceased, born December 
14, 1835; Solomon K., born March 17. 
1837; Jonas, born April 3, 1839, died 
young; Gideon, born March 13, 184-1, 
died in Missouri; Lydia, born March 10, 
1842, was the wife of Gideon Hartzler, 
and died in Greene Township; Jacob, born 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



151 



January 3, 184:5, was killed when seven- 
teen years old by his team running away ; 
and Jephtha, born April 25, 1847, died 
in Michigan, leaving a widow and chil- 
dren. The father of this family was a man 
of stroug religious feeling, and eonscien- 
tious and consistent member of the Amish 
Mennonite Church, who lived up to his 
professions and reared his children to 
follow his example. He was a man of 
probity, and bore an irreproachable char- 
acter. He was born May 12, 1803, and 
died October 3, 1816. The mother died 
May 15, 1889, after a lingering illness, 
but bore her suffering with great patience 
and Christian fortitude. She was buried 
in the Pai'adise Union Cemetery, May 17, 
in the presence of a large company of 
friends and relatives. 

Solomon K. Plank, the subject of this 
sketch, has made farming his life-long 
occupation. He was nine years old when 
his father died, and thereafter he made 
his home with his mother until his mar- 
riage, on May 15, 1862, with Nancy, daugh- 
ter of Joseph and Fanny (Kauffman) 
Hartzler, who was born October 24, 1839, 
on the place where she now lives, which 
had been the liome of her parents, and 
was bought subsequently by her and her 
husband. The Hartzlers wei'e among the 
early settlers of the county, were both na- 
tives of Mifflin County, Penn., and had 
removed here and settled on the farm in 



1824, with their two eldest children, who 
were born in Pennsylvania. The father 
was born in 1796, and died in 1870. The 
mother died in 1874. They had eleven 
children, of whom are now living, sons : 
Levi, in Greene Township; Enos. John 
and Solomon, in Davis County, Iowa; 
Seth and Benjamin, in Cass County, Mo. ; 
Gideon, in Greene Township, all farmers-,, 
daughters: Elizabeth, wife of Joseph 
Plank, of Milton Township, this county, 
and Nancy, wife of S. K. Plank, who was 
the youngest of the family; the two de- 
ceased were Sarah, who died at thirteen, 
and an infant unnamed. Joseph Hartzler 
was a plain, upright man, honest and con- 
scientious, who dealt with others as he 
would be dealt by. He and his wife were 
members of the Amish Mennonite Church. 
When they immigrated to Wayne County 
the land was mostly covered by a dense 
forest, and the immigrants often grew 
homesick when looking at the prospect. 
For years their home was a log cabin, 
around which at first was but a small patch 
of cleared land. Years of unremitting 
toil were passed, but under their hands 
the farm grew, prosperity smiled upon 
their efforts, and their farm gradually 
grew to be one of the best in the neigh- 
borhood. At first their grain had to be 
hauled to Cleveland, where it was either 
sold for a small price or, more frequently, 
exchanged for necessaries; but the hou- 



152 



WAYNE cor XT V. 



ored pioneer and his wife lived to see the ; 
fruition of the hopes which brought them 
from their Eastern home, and died sur- 
rounded by all the comforts which their 
toil had gained for them and their chil- 
dren. 

Mr. and Mrs. S. K. Plank are the 
parents of five children, viz. : Malissa 
Ellen, boru March 20, 1863, and Adam, 
born March 30, 1872, living with their 
parents; Leo, born June 6, 1864; Will- 
iam Joseph, born July 5, 1866, and John 
F., born October 16, 1878, are deceased. 
Mr. and Mrs. Plank are members of the 
Oak Grove Amish Meunonite Church, of 
which he is a deacon, and for many years 
he was one of its superintendents and 
teachers in its Sunday-school. He is 
a man of sterling integrity, of strict 
principle, and highly esteemed in his 
community. Mr. Plank's great-grand- 
father, Melcher Plank, was a native of 
Eotterdam, Holland, and soon after his 
marriage he and his wife accompanied 
some fi-iends, who were moving to Amer- 
ica, on board the ship. As the ship was 
not to leave until the next day the captain 
prevailed on them to remain with their 
friends until morning, as they would 
probably not see each other again. Dur- 
ing the night, while they were asleep, the 
ship sailed, and when they awoke in the 
morning they were out of sight of land. 
Ou arriving in America they were sold 



to a Mr. Morgan, of Berks County, Penn., 
to pay their passage. They had a family 
of six children: Jacob, Christian, John, 
Peter, Barbara and Margaret. The three 
first named married sisters named Yoder. 
Jacob and Mary (Yoder) Plank were the 
grandparents of Solomon K., our sub- 
ject, and were early settlers of Wayne 
County, Ohio. The former died Janu- 
ary 10, 1851, aged eighty-three years, 
two months and four days, and the latter 
March 28, 1850, aged seventy-nine years, 
one month and fifteen days. They had a 
family of twelve children: John, born 
July 31, 1792, died January 1, 1889; 
Christian, born November 8, 1793 ; Jacob, 
December 2, 1795; Barbara, September 
26, 1797; David, August 3, 1799; Mary, 
July 15, 1801; Jephtha, May 12, 1803; 
Fanny, January 29, 1805; Abraham and 
Sarah (twins), April 28, 1807; Salome, 
March 2-4, 1809; Rebecca. June 5, 1811. 



GJ. MILLER was born in Wayne 
County in 184:5. He is the son of 
-— Jacob and Magdaline (Giudles- 
berger) Millei'. They were the parents 
of ten children, of whom C. J. was the 
sixth. The early life of C. J. Miller was 
spent at home ou his father's farm, and 
he was educated in the common schools 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



158 



of the county. He learued the carpenter's 
trade, which he followed for five years. 
lu 1862 he eulisted in the three-months 
service, in Company D, Eighty-sixth Reg- 
iment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and re- 
enlisted in the Ninth Ohio Volunteer In- 
fantry for three years. 

After his car.eer in the army he re- 
turned to Wayne County, and was mar- 
ried, in December, 1868, to Sarah Eberly, 
daughter of Peter Eberly, a very promi- 
nent citizen of Wayne County. Three 
children have been born of this marriage: 
Cora Elena, Irvin Alden and Roy Edwin. 
In 1875 Mr. Miller purchased eighty 
acres of his present farm, owning now 
some 130 acres. He has been a success- 
ful farmer, and is among the progressive, 
intelligent men of Wayne Count)'. He is 
a member of the United Brethren Church, 
a Republican in politics, and stands de- 
servedly high in the estimation of the 
community. 



ri( LBERT B. MACKEY was born in 

LjI Maysville, Ohio, November 27, 
JJ -^ 1846, and is a son of John and 
Elizabeth (Cunningham) Mackey. 
William Mackey, the grandfather of Al- 
bert B., was born in Londonderry, Ire- 
land, and immigrated to America in 1808. 
He was a cabinet-maker by trade, and 



remained in New York City, working at 
the same until 1813 or 1814, when lie 
came to Wayne County, and entered a 
tract of land on Section 1, in Salt Crt-ek 
Township, where he lived until his death, 
in 1869. He was an energetic, prosper- 
ous man, and one of the leading men of 
the township. During the War of 1812 
he served in the New York militia. His 
family consisted of ten children, as fol- 
lows: Eve (now Mrs. John Clum, of De- 
fiance Count}', Ohio), Rosana, Elizabeth, 
Murabra, Margaret, Tamor and Soplironia 
(all deceased), Luciuda (now Mrs. Man- 
oah Franks, of Keudallville, Ind. ), John 
(deceased) and Cyrus. 

Of these, John was born in Salt Creek 
Township, Wayne County, in 1824, and 
was reared on the homestead. At an early 
age he and one Daniel Reider laid out 
the town of Maysville, Ohio. After his 
marriage he located on a tract of laud 
adjoining that of his father, and lived 
there until his death, by accident, in a 
saw -mill, in 1850. His wife was a 
daughter of James Cunningham, a native 
of Fayette County, Peuu., who entered a 
tract of land in Salt Creek Township in 
1816, and in 1810 located on the farm 
now owned by Albert B. and his brother, 
John, where he died May 6, 1868. John 
Mackey reared three children: Albert B. 
(our subject), Mary Jane (deceased) and 
John, residing on the homestead. 



154 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Albert B. was educated at Savannah 
Academy, in Asblaud County, Smithville 
and Fredericksburgh, Ohio, and studied 
the profession of a civil engineer, which 
he followed for three years on the Pacific 
coast, during two years of which he was 
employed by the Government. He read 
law with John P. Jefferies, of Wooster, 
Ohio, but was never admitted to practice. 
He lived on the farm until 1884, when he 
moved his family to Apple Creek. Janu- 
ary 1, 1874, Mr. Mackey married Clara E., 
daughter of Adam Heuning, of Salt Creek 
Township, Wayne County, and by this 
union tliey have five children: Radie, Ed- 
win A., Florence M., John H. and Bertha 
M. Mr. Mackey has served as county 
surveyor, and as justice of the peace of 
East Union and Salt Creek Townships for 
twelve years. He is a member of Apple 
Creek Lodge, No. 674, I. O. O. F., Apple 
Creek Lodge, No. 324, K. of P., and votes 
with the Democratic partv. 

John Mackey was born August 9, 1850, 
at Maysville, Ohio. He was educated at 
the township schools and the academy 
at Savannah, and has always followed 
farming. In 1874 he married Miss Mary 
Grosjean, daughter of Eugene Grosjeau, 
of Salt Greek Township, Wayne County. 
She died October 26, 1879, leaving one 
child, Eugenie. By his present wife, nee 
Mary Jane Brown, daughter of E. A. 
Brown, of Wooster, Ohio, Mr. Mackey has 



two children: Ralph Waldo and Maud 
Alma. Mr. Mackey is a Republican in 
politics, and has served as president of 
the school board of Salt Creek Township 
for four years. He is now serving his 
second term as township trustee. 



GASPER L. SWART, son of Heury 
and Mary (Laugell) Swart, was 
born in Wayne County, Ohio, near 
Edinburgh, East Union Township. The 
parents moved in the year in which they 
were married from Jefferson County, 
Ohio, to Wayne County. They had a 
family of nine children, viz. ; Mary, Simon, 
Andrew Jackson, Casper L., Margaret S., 
James, Sarah, Ellen Maria and Susan, 
Of these, Casper Jj., whose name heads 
this sketch, was educated at the local 
schools of his township, was brought up 
on a farm, and has all his days fol- 
lowed the life of a husbandman. He 
moved on the fine farm where he now re- 
sides, in Plain Townshijj, Wayne County, 
in 1836, and has greatly improved and 
beautified it. 

Mr. Swart was married February 15, 
1859, to Mary Jane Cormony, of Mount 
Vernon, Ohio, and to this union have 
been born seven children, as follows: 
Henry, born February 7, 1860, died April 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



155 



19. 1S64; Flavia, bovD April 7, 1862, 
died April 17, 1864; Adrian C, born 
February 20, 1864; Lelia M., born 
August 20, 1865; Ella M., born Decem- 
ber 1, 1867; Nora A., born Januaiy 

20, 1874, and Perry L., born August 28, 
1877. The mother of these children 
died April 10, 1885. The family are 
members of the Christian Church, and 
are regarded among the most worthy and 
respected citizens of Plain Township. 



JW. KIPLINGEE, son of Michael 
and Sarah ( Keen ) Kiplinger, was born 
— in Jackson Township, Ashland Co., 
Ohio, August 1, 1856. Jacob Kiplinger, 
grandfather of J. W., and who was a na- 
tive of Pennsylvania, married Barbara 
Bope, by whom he had thirteen children, 
nine sons and four daughters, all of 
whom grew to manhood and womanhood; 
he died September 13, 1845, aged seventy- 
nine years, twenty-nine days, his widow 
surviving until May 17, 1856, when she 
too died, aged eighty-two years and four 
months. 

Michael Kiplinger, father of J. "W., 
was born April 11, 1804, in Centre 
Count)', Penn., and came to Ashland 
County, Ohio, where he lived up to the 
time of his death, which occurred Novem- 



ber 11, 1872. He married, March 1, 1832, 
Sarah, daughter of John and Catherine 
Keen, natives of Pennsylvania, who came 
to Ohio in an early day, being among the 
early pioneers of Ashland County. Mr. 
Keen died March 8, 1862, aged eighty- 
iive years, five months and fourteen days ; 
his wife died May 6, 1862, aged eighty- 
one years, ten months and eighteen days. 
Michael and Sarah Kiplinger were the 
parents of ten children: Daniel, James 
P., Michael, John J., Edward A., Joseph 
W., Sarah, Hannah, Mary and Rebecca, 
seven of whom are living. The mother 
is now residing in Jackson Township, 
Ashland Co., Ohio, in excellent health, in 
her seventy-sixth year. 

J. W. Kiplinger, the subject of this 
biographical memoir, was married in 
March, 1882, to Miss Adella, daughter of 
Jacob and Mary A. Keen, former of 
whom was born May 13, 1835, and died 
September 14, 1878 ; latter was born De- 
cember 8, 1837. To Mr. and Mrs. J. W. 
Kiplinger has been born one child, Claude 
Clayton, born January 6, IsSJ. Mr. Kip- 
linger came to West Salem, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, in 1883, and embarked in the dru<T 
business, in which he has been eminently 
successful. September 5, 1885, he re- 
ceived his commission as postmaster of 
West Salem, and as such his uniform 
courtesy and strict attention to the duties 
of his office have earned for him the ad- 



156 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



/" miration and respect of the entire com- 

nuinity. In politics he is a Democrat. 



W\ AEREN AYLESWOETH, in his 
lifetime a progressive farmer, 
^ -^ was a native of Wayne County, 
having been born in Clinton Township, 
January 5, 1820. His father, Ira H. 
Aylesworth, was a native of Vermont, and 
when about twelve years of age removed 
to Otsego County, N. Y., and thence, in 
1816, to Ohio, traveling the entire distance 
by wagon. While residing in New York 
he was married to Esther, daughter of 
James Gray, and a native of Massachu- 
setts. Her ancestors for several genera- 
tions were residents of the latter State, 
being of English descent. Mrs. Ayles- 
worth's father was a soldier in the Eevo- 
lutionary army, and bore his share of the 
hardships and privations of those "times 
that tried men's souls," enlisting in the 
patriot army when he was only sixteen 
years old. Afterward he became a Eev- 
olutiouary prisoner. He now lies buried 
in Ashland County, Ohio. Ira H. Ayles- 
worth's ancestry were also of English 
descent. When Mr. Aylesworth and his 
young wife came to Wayne County they 
settled on a tract of wild land that had 
never known the touch of the white man's 



ax or plow. They first lived in a log 
cabin, which Mr. Aylesworth erected witJi 
his own hands. Here they lived ami 
reared their family, enduring the hard- 
ships and privations incident to pioneer 
life, and here Mrs. Aylesworth died in 
1843, at the age of forty-three years. She 
was the mother of nine children, six of 
whom grew to maturity, but of whom 
only three are now living. A number of 
years after his wife's death Ira H. Ayles- 
worth married Mrs. Olive Williams, who 
bore him one child. In 1861, just as the 
troops were leaving for the front in re- 
sponse to President Lincoln's call, Mr. 
Aylesworth died, in Wooster (where he 
had lived for several years), from the 
effect of injuries received through being 
thrown from a wagon. He was then sev- 
enty-five years old. He served for a time 
as justice of the peace, and bore an im- 
portant part in developing the resources 
of Wayne County. He led an exemplary 
life, and was universally esteemed. 

Warren Aylesworth spent his early 
years on his father's farm, being born in 
the old log house, and afterward attend- 
ing school in the pioneer log school-house. 
On the 1st of May, 18-49, he was married 
to Miss Ann E., daughter of Eobert and 
Mary (Thomas) Wilson, and a native of 
Huntingdon County, Penn., where she 
was born, October 14, 1827. Her paternal 
ancestors, who were of Scotcli-Irish 




^^^^i-^f'^oi^ £>^'^.-^fniAJr>^-'^^ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



159 



descent, came to America prior to the Rev- 
olutiou, ill which her grandfather, Thomas 
Wilson, was a soldier. His sword is now 
in Mrs. Aylesworth's possession. Her 
grandmother on her mother's side, Agnes 
Scott, and her family were of Welsh de- 
scent. Robert and Mary Wilson came, in 
1834, to what is now Ashland County, 
Ohio, where the father and mother died — 
the latter in 1843, at the age of forty-one, 
and the former, December 25, 1871, aged 
seventy-two. Mr. Wilson was an earnest 
Abolitionist, and attended the first free- 
soil convention, held at Buffalo in 1848. 
He was an active "conductor" on the 
mysterious underground railroad, his 
house being one of the numerous " sta- 
tions." After their marriage Mr. and 
Mrs. Aylesworth remained on the old 
homestead until 1874, when they removed 
to Wooster, and in 1876 purchased the 
present homestead. They had labored 
hard to improve and beautify their farm, 
and were successful in so doing. Only 
one child has blessed their union, and 
that was spared to them but a few months. 
Intent, however, upon doing good, they 
took and reared a sou of Mrs. Aylesworth's 
brother, whose parents had died, and he 
remained with them until his marriage. 
Mr. Aylesworth always worked and voted 
with the Republican party until 1888, 
when he cast his vote for the Prohibition 
candidates, desiring to see his countrymen 



freed from the thralldom of strong drink. 
He was an esteemed member of the Pres- 
byterian Church of AVooster, as is his 
widow. She is also a member of the 
Woman's Christian Temperance Union. 

Warren Aylesworth died at his home 
in Wooster, June 24, 1889, of typhoid 
pneumonia, after an illness of six days, 
and his remains are interred in Oak Hill 
Cemetery, at Wooster, Wayne Co., Ohio. 

The Aylesworth family is one of the 
best known and most highly respected in 
Wayne County. Its members have borne 
their share in the work of building up the 
county, and causing the wilderness to 
"blossom as the rose." They have their 
reward in being well-to-do and in possess- 
ing the esteem and affection of everyone 
who knows them. 



II SAAC H. HAGUE, M. D.,son of Isaac 
and Nancy (Dougherty) Hague, was 
-^ born in Holmes County, Ohio, Novem- 
ber 9, 1840. His paternal grandparents 
came from Holland, and located in Fay- 
ette County, Penn., removing to Holmes 
County in 1828, where the grandfather 
was an agriculturist. Isaac Hague, father 
of the Doctor, was born in Fayette County, 
Penn., where he married Nancy Dough- 
erty, who was also born in Pennsylvania, 



160 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



aud where their children — Ruth, Jaue, 
William and Sarah — were born ; and after 
their settlement in Ohio Aaron, Eliza- 
beth, Hannah and Isaac H. were born. 
Euth aud Jane are both residents of 
Holmes County, and married, the former 
to John Phillips, the latter to Steven R. 
Williams; William's residence is also 
there ; Sarah married William McConkey, 
and their home is in Missouri; Elizabeth 
married James Miller, aud their residence 
was in Porter County, Ind., where she 
died; Hannah married Josiah Moreland, 
also of Porter County, Ind., where she 
also died. 

Isaac H. received his elementary edu- 
cation in his native county, and his clas- 
sical education at Hiram College, Portage 
County, Ohio. He studied medicine with 
Dr. Joel Pomerene, of Millersburgh, Ohio, 
aud attended a course of lectures in Cleve- 
land, at Wooster University, from which 
he graduated in 1868, and in 1876 he took 
a special course at Bellevue Hospital Med- 
ical College, New York. During the war, 
in 1862, the Doctor enlisted in Company 
G, One Hundred and Second Ohio Vol- 
unteer Infantry, returning home at its 
close, in 1865. In 1864, during the term of 
his enlistment, he married Rebecca, daugh- 
ter of James Williams, of Holmes Coun- 
ty, Ohio, and upon his return from the 
army they located for a time in Millers- 
burgh ; then he began the practice of med- 



icine in Nashville, removing to Shreve in 
1877, where he has since been successfully 
engaged in the practice of his profession. 
To Dr. and Mrs. Hague five children liave 
been born, viz.: Ellis B. ; Jennie (now 
Mi's. I. C. Charles, of Lucas, Richland Co., 
Ohio); Virga L. ; Estella D., aud James 
Harrison Garfield, named after ex-Presi- 
deut Garfield, who was president of Hiram 
College during the Doctoi''s attendance 
there. 

The Doctor and his wife are members 
of the Disciples Church ; in politics he is a 
Republican. It is almost superfluous to 
add that Dr. Hague as a professional man 
and as a citizen deservedly holds a high 
position in the estimation of the commu- 
nity where he resides, and that he enjoys 
an increasing and remunerative practice. 



JOHN HINDMAN, one of Wayne 
County's earliest settlers, was born 
in Columbiana County, Ohio, April 
4, 1815, his parents being James and 
Ruth (Crunkilton) Hindman. The pa- 
ternal grandfather of our subject was 
also named James, aud lived aud died in 
Franklin County, Penn., his widow there- 
after making her home with her sou 
James. The latter was all his life a 
farmer, aud iu his early manhood was 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



161 



united in marriage with Ruth, daughter 
of Robert Crunkiltou, and a native of 
Franklin County, Penn. 

As early as 1809 our subject's father 
came to Wayne County, and settled on 
laud where he proposed making his fut- 
ure home. After clearing a portion of it 
he returned to his native State, where he 
was married in the year 1812, and at 
once, with his bride, started for their new 
liome iu the then far West, in this county. 
Owing to Indian troubles in this region, 
they stopped in Columbiana County, Ohio, 
where they rented land, and stayed there 
until 1816. Everything being now quiet 
in this region, they came to Wayne Coun- 
ty iu that year, and here lived the re- 
mainder of their lives. They had to 
endure the hardships and privations of 
the life of the early pioneers, and for 
years pumpkin butter, as a substitute for 
apple butter, was an article of daily food. 
Little do the younger people of to-day 
realize the privations endured by the 
early pioneers, who laid the foundation 
of the prosperity Wayne County is to-day 
enjoying. About the year 1858 death 
called the hardy pioneer from his labors, 
at the age of fifty-eight years. He was 
a man of great physical strength, but the 
arduous toil of pioneer life shortened his 
days. He had an inclination for military 
matters, and was captain of the first 
militia company organized in Wayne 



County. Later he became major of the 
first regiment, and still later was elected 
colonel. In his political views he was a 
Jackson Democrat, and was active in pub- 
lic afPairs, having filled various offices of 
trust iu the county, as township trustee, 
county commissioner, etc. He was also a 
member of the Masonic fraternity. His 
wife survived him many years, dying in 
1873, at the ripe old age of eighty-three 
years. Their union had been blessed by 
the birth of seven children, three of whom 
are yet surviving: John, James (on the 
old homestead) and Ruth (Mrs. Adam 
Eyman, of Wooster). The deceased were 
Maria, wife of George Vallandigham, of 
East Union Township; Crooks, who died 
in Wells County, Ind., and two who died 
iu iufaucy. 

John Hindman remained on his father's 
farm until he reached the years of man- 
hood, and in 1839 was united in marriage 
with Nancy, daughter of Theophilus and 
Mai'y Phillips, and a native of Fayette 
County, Penn., who came with her parents 
to Wayne County, where she grew to 
womanhood. For two years the young 
couple remained upon the home farm, but 
in 1841 they removed to Edinburgh, this 
county, where he engaged in mercantile, 
business, in partnership with David Clark, 
the connection continuing until 1850, 
when they sold out. He was also post- 
master from 1844 to 1850, when he re- 



162 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



signed. Prior to this tliey had together 
bought a farm of 135 acres, and on the 
dissolution Mr. Hindman bought his part- 
ner's interest, and, later, purchased 206 
acres adjoining, giving him a fine farm of 
over 300 acres of choice land. In 1853, 
when the railroad was built, it ran across 
Mr. Hindmau's land, on a part of which 
the depot was erected. The following 
year, ISol, he laid out and platted a vil- 
lage, which he named Apple Creek. He 
remained upon his farm until 1868, when 
he rented it, and removed to Wooster, 
which has since been his home. Mr. 
Hindman and his esteemed wife are par- 
ents of eight children, of whom the fol- 
lowing is recorded: Mary, wife of O. K. 
Griffith, of Orrville, this county ; William, 
a resident of Crestline, Ohio; Euth, wife 
of J. G. Jackson, of Toledo; James died 
near Apple Creek, Ohio; Ann, wife of S. 
B. Eason, of Wooster; Martha, wedded to 
T. H. Cunningham, of Wooster, and two 
children who died in infancy. Nancy, the 
wife of Mr. Hindman, died at Wooster, 
Ohio, August 21, 1877, in the sixty-first 
year of her age. 

The life of Mr. Hindmau has been one 
of activity and labor. All his lifetime he 
has been a temperate man, having never 
used either intoxicating liquor or tobacco, 
and to-day, at the honored age of sev- 
enty-four years, he is hale and hearty. 
As one of the pioneers of the county 



he will long be remembered, and as an 
upright man and good citizen he has 
always stood high in the estimation of his 
fellow-men. He has contributed liberally 
of his time and means to all projects hav- 
ing for their aim the upbuilding of the 
county, and has always justly borne the 
reputation of a public-spirited citizen. He, 
as was his beloved wife, is an esteemed 
member of the Presbyterian Church of 
Wooster. He is an adherent of the Dem- 
ocratic party, and has served two terms as 
director of the Wayne County Infirmary. 



QEORGE MATHES is a son of Mar- 
r tin and Margaret (Eott) Mathes, na- 
1 tives of France, who came to Amer- 
ica in 1843, and settled in Canaan 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. The father, 
who was a pi-ominent member of the Re- 
formed Church, died in 1883; his widow 
still survives him. They reared eight 
children, five of whom are living: Mar- 
garet, wife of Jacob Weimer, of Holmes 
County, Ohio; Sarah, wife of Jacob 
Broomter, in Wooster Township, Wayne 
County; George; Barnhart, in Michigan; 
Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Hope, in Kal- 
amazoo, Mich. 

The subject of these lines was horn in 
France, December 2, 1833; came to 



WAYNE COUNTY 



163 



Wayne Couuty with his jmrents, aud 
learned the carpenter's trade, which he 
followed for mauj- years. In ISCiO he 
purchased the farm adjoining him, and 
in 1884 traded that for his present farm 
of 140 acres, in Canaan Township, 
Wayne County. In 1S(K) he married 
Christina, daughter of Balsar Haas, of 
Canaan Township. She died in 1872, 
leaving four children: Alice, wife of 
Ernest Benjamin, of Medina CountyJ 
Ohio; Emma, wife of Ellis W. Zehner, in 
West Salem (has one child, an infant) ; 
Ida, wife of Deforest Smith, of Canaan 
Township; Matilda, at home. Mr. Mathes' 
present wife is Louisa, daughter of 
Charles Galwitz, of Holmes County, and 
by her he has two children, Jessie and 
Charles. Mr. Mathes is a member of the 
Republican party, with prohibition pro- 
clivities, aud has filled various township 
offices. At present writing he holds the 
office of school director. He is an elder 
in the Reformed Church of Canaan. 



L 



EWIS STACHER, farmer, was 
born in Washington Covinty, Peuu., 
^ in 1833, a son of Christopher and 
Rebecca (Snyder) Stacher. In 1835 the 
parents moved to Wayne County, Ohio, 
and first settled in Canaan Township, but 



subsequently removed to Congress Town- 
ship, where the father died at the age of 
fort3'-five years. He was never a robust 
man, and for several j^ears prior to his 
death was unable to perform the duties of 
farm life. His wife survived him for sev- 
eral years, dying at the age of fifty-seven. 
They had a family of seven children: 
Eli, Mary Ann, Sarah Ann, Elizabeth, 
Rebecca, Lewis and Solomon B. 

The children were reared in Wayne 
County, Lewis, the subject of our sketch, 
being but two years old when his parents 
made this county their home. Deprived 
of the care of a father early in life, he 
was obliged to assist in the work of the 
farm, his educational advantages being 
but limited. Since reaching manhood he 
has devoted his attention to agricultural 
pursuits, and is now one of the prosper- 
ous farmers of the township. His repu- 
tation for honesty and integrity is evi- 
denced by the official honors conferred 
upon him by his fellow-citizens, having 
served as trustee of the township, aud 
also as justice of the jjeace six years. 
He is a member of the Presbyterian 
Church. His political affiliations are 
with the Democratic party. He was 
married in 1801 to Miss Margaret McKee^ 
daughter of Thomas McKee, and to them 
were born two children : Thomas C. (de- 
ceased), aud Carrie Bell, at home. Mrs. 
Stacher died September 24, 1885. 



164 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



\\ H OSES MOKKETT, a well-known 
I y I and respected citizen of Wooster, 
J is a native of Cumberland County, 

Penn., born June 5, 1825. His 
father, Michael Morrett, was likewise a 
native of tliat State, of mixed German and 
French lineage, his ancestors having set- 
tled in Pennsylvania at an early day. 
Michael Morrett was a farmer, and was 
married to Catherine Young, also a native 
of Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Ma- 
thias and Gertrude Young. Michael Mor- 
rett died in his native State in 1840, and 
his wife in 1847. They were the parents 
of three sons and six daiighters, the sons 
being now the only survivors of the fam- 
ily. Our subject is the only one living 
in Ohio; Michael occiipies the Pennsyl- 
vania homestead, and Samuel is a resident 
of Kosciusko County, Ind. 

The subject of this sketch spent his life 
on the farm until he was eighteen years 
of age. His chances for school education 
in his earlier youth were very limited, be- 
ing kept out of school much of the time 
to attend to work which the lack of ma- 
chinery in those days imposed upon the 
farmer boy; nevertheless, he became a 
well-educated man. Later, for a few 
terms, he attended an academy at Ship- 
peusburgh, in his native county, and also 
spent a time in Dickinson College, at Car- 
lisle, Penn. When qualified he began 
teaching school, following that profession 



for twenty-two years. He was also en- 
gaged in mercantile business at Church- 
town, in his native county. In 1S51 Mr. 
Morrett was united in marriage with 
Miss Adeline E., daughter of Daniel 
and Cassiah (Bowman) Krysher, all na- 
tives of Pennsylvania. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Morrett was born one child, Ida May, who 
became a finely educated young lady, and 
was a teacher of music; she died at the 
age of twenty-five. In 1858 Mr. Morrett 
moved to Wayne County, Ohio, where he 
followed his profession of teaching most 
of the time until 1872. For six years he 
was principal of the school at Smithville, 
in this county, and for four years princi- 
pal of the grammar school of Wooster. 
In 1872 he was appointed internal reve- 
nue storekeeper for the district, and sev- 
eral years later was appointed ganger, 
combining the two positions. At the be- 
ginning of President Cleveland's adminis- 
tration, in 1885, he withdrew from the 
service, and has since been book-keeper in 
Plank Brothers' mill, in Wooster. 

Mr. and Mrs. Morrett are much -respect- 
ed members of society. Both are mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian Church in Woos- 
ter, he being an active worker in the 
Sabbath-school, where for many years he 
has been a highly successful teacher in 
the Bible class. He is a strong Repub- 
lican, and has been elected justice of the 
peace, both in Pennsylvania and Ohio. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



165 



In 1887 he was made presideut of the 
Board of Trustees of the Wooster Water 
Works. He is a member of the Kuights 
of Pythias and of the Odd Fellows order. 
He and his wife live in a comfortable 
home on East Liberty Street, Wooster, 
and enjoy the good-will and friendship of 
everyone who has the pleasure of know- 
ing them. 



DQ. LIGGETT (deceased), who in 
his lifetime was a well-known and 
highly respected citizen of Woos- 
ter, Wayne County, was born in Holmes 
County, Ohio, December 27, 1821. His 
boyhood and early manhood days were 
spent on his father's farm, and at twenty- 
one he commenced clerking in a dry goods 
store at Nashville, in his native county, 
in which business he later became a part- 
ner, subsequently purchasing the concern. 
In 1860 he sold out, and removed to 
Wooster, where he again commenced a 
mercantile career, continuing in the same 
until his death, which occurred February 
15, 188«. 

Mr. Liggett was a man of sterling busi- 
ness principles, and a hard worker, often 
laboring beyond his strength. For some 
years previous to his decease his health 
had failed, and his existence for a long 



time seemed to be a close struggle be- 
tween life and death. Not alone is Mr. 
Liggett to be spoken of as a successful 
business man, for in his social life his 
many virtues and acts of benevolence, 
done in a quiet, unassuming manner, will 
remain forever in the memory of those 
who knew him best; and his loss as a 
useful citizen will long be felt in the two 
counties of which he had been a resident. 
In his life's work he was ever nolily aided 
by his loving wife, who stood by him and 
encouraged him in the many struggles to 
be met with on the highway to affluence; 
and the elegant home where the widow 
now resides, one of the handsomest in the 
city of Wooster, is the result of their 
united labor, good management and econ- 
omy. To the building of old Trinity 
Methodist Episcopal Church (of which he 
was a member), at Wooster, Mr. Liggett 
contributed largely. When a young man 
he became identified with the I. O. O. F. ; 
politically he was a stanch Republican. 

May 26, 18-16, he became united in 
marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of 
James and Catherine (Soleuders) Muu- 
hall, and a native of Cumberland County, 
Peun., born August 13, 1823, her parents 
being both of the same county. Her 
maternal grandparents came to America 
from Germany, and her paternal ancestry 
from Ireland. When Mrs. Liggett was a 
child, her parents came to Holmes Coun- 



1G6 



WAYNE COUXTV. 



ty, and here followed farming until tlieir 
deaths, the fatlier dying when over eighty 
years of age, and the mother about two 
j'ears later. They had a family of seven 
children, as follows: John, in Holmes 
Countj^ Ohio; James, in Illinois; Henry 
and Francis, both of whom died iu Illi- 
nois; Mary A., now Mrs. John Boyd; 
Sarah, now Mrs. Charles Yocum, near 
Warreutou, Mo., and Elizabeth, Mrs. D. 
Q. Liggett. Mrs. Liggett spent her early 
life on the farm until her marriage, when 
she and her husband resided in Nashville, 
as already related. No children were 
born to this worthy couple, and the de- 
voted wife in her widowhood is left alone 
to mourn the loss of her husband, and 
quietly await the summons that will call 
her to an eternal reunion. 



diOHN U. EBRIGHT, son of Abram 
j B. and Tamar (Freese) Ebright, 
was born in Plain Township, Wayne 
Co., Ohio, iu 1859. His grandfather, 
George Ebright, was a native of Cumber- 
land County, Penn., born in 1782. He 
there received a practical education, and 
May 6, 1800, married Barbara Bi'unuer, 
also a native of the same county, born 
October 14, 1780. During the year 1834 
they removed to Ohio, and located iu 



what is now Wooster Township, Wayne 
County, but removed to Plain Township, 
one mile south of Blachleyville, and after- 
ward to a farm two miles farther south, 
where they spent the remainder of tlieir 
days. 

They were the parents of eleven chil- 
dren, as follows: John B., born February 
14, 1807, married to Rachel Burtner Oc- 
tober 4, 1832, located in Cumberland 
County, Penn., where he died February 
14, 1849, leaving one child, Edwin G., 
who with his mother moved to Clinton 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, where they 
still live; Elizabeth, born May 10, 1809, 
remained at home until the decease of 
her father, and now has her home with 
Mrs. A. B. Ebright, of Plain Township; 
Hannah K., born March 11, 1811, married 
Henry Oldroyd in March, 1834, and im- 
mediately removed to Clinton Township, 
Wayne County (they were the parents 
of seven children, only five of whom are 
now living: Elmer G., Charles W., A. B., 
W. F. and T. B.) ; George, born January 
11, 1813, married May 1, 1839, to Rachel 
Hathaway, of Fairfield County, Ohio, 
where they remained until his decease, 
March 20, 1804, when Mrs. Ebright, 
with her children, removed to Ashland 
County, thence to Wayne County, and 
she is now a i-esident of Wooster (their 
children were Pulaska, Elizabeth, L. S., 
Ollie, Martha, Joseph and May G. ) ; Ann, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



167 



born May 20, 1815, married to Thomas 
Battles March 11, 1812, located iu Clin- 
ton Township (their only surviving chil- 
dren are Ann and Susie); Abram B. ; 
Mary, born May 0, 1821, married May 
12. 1814:, to William B. Baker, located iu 
Indiana, and have three cliildreu: Byron 
L., Elizabeth and Amy; Thomas, born 
April 14, 1824, married to Nancy Leggett 
June 15, 1854, located at Nashville, 
Holmes Co., Ohio, and had four children, 
two of whom are living: Catherine and 
Cady; William P., born March 12, 1827, 
died October 31, 1827, and two children 
died in infancy. 

Of these, Abram B. was born March 27, 
1818, in Cumberland County, Penn., and 
April 22, 1841, married Tamar Freese; 
located at Millbrook, Plaiu Township, 
Wayne Co., Ohio, where he carried on 
teaching and farming. He taught during 
the wintei's for a period of twenty years, 
devoting his attention during the sum- 
mers to the farm. He was one of the rep- 
resentative men of his township, and was 
held high in favor by its citizens. His 
death occurred July 27, 1887. The chil- 
dren of Mr. and Mr^. Abram B. Ebright 
■were Frances, deceased; Arta D., the late 
Mrs. David Sloane, of Ashland County ; E. 
F.. who married Miraba Miller, and located 
in Ashland County; Ulila, who died when 
eight years of age; Melvin C, an attor- 
uey of Ashland County, having been ad- 



mitted to the bar about a year before his 
death, which occurred April 13, 1879; 
George J., married to Ella Oswalt, and 
located in Plain Township, Wayne Coun- 
ty, and John D., who married, December 
28, 1882, Delia M., daughter of Benjamin 
Leyda, of Clinton Township, and located 
in Plain Township, Wayne County, where 
he became a farmer. Preferring, how- 
ever, a mercantile life to one of the farm, 
he removed to Shreve in March, 1886, and 
established himself iu business as dealer in 
boots and shoes, etc., and is one of the 
pi'omiuent and active business men of that 
enterprising village. Mr. and Mrs. J. D. 
Ebright are the parents of two children: 
Ethel Elizabeth, born November 6, 1883, 
and Glen Leyda, born August 17, 1885. 
The parents are members of the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church. In politics Mr. 
Ebright is a Republican, and he is a mem- 
ber of the council. 



rIKE FAMILY. This family is now 
represented as its head by George 
— ~ Fike, a retired farmer living at 
Oirville, who was born in Alsace-Lor- 
raine, November 7, 1825, and was in 
his twelfth year when he came here with 
parents, Michael and Eva Fike. Tliey 
came direct from New York to Canaan 



168 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Township, Wayne County, and settled 
upon a farm, which is still in the posses- 
sion of the family. Michael Fike died in 
Sandusky City, Ohio, while temporarily 
staying with a daughter, Mrs. Emeline 
Voigt, in April, 18S6, at the age of eighty- 
two years. His widow lives with the 
same daughter, and is eighty-nine years 
old. They had seven children, viz. : 
Michael, living in Sandusky City; Jacob, 
who died in the old country, aged fifteen; 
John, who lives in Canaan Township, 
Wayne County; George, in Orrville; 
Fi'ederick, in Canaan Township; Adam 
W., in Wayne Township, and Emeline, in 
Sandusky City. 

George Fike, in his sixteenth yeai', went 
into a bakery at Wooster, where he stayed 
a couple of years, and then for several 
years clerked in a tin and stove store at 
Akron, Ohio. He then started a general 
store at Mansfield, Ohio, which he sold, 
and then bought a foundry at Loudon- 
ville, Ashland Co., Ohio, which he after- 
ward sold, and bought a farm in Canaan 
Township, Wayne County. Disposing of 
this four years later, he bought another 
in Clinton Township, which was his home 
for thirteen years. Again he sold, and 
boiight in Canaan Township, which two 
years later he sold, and bought the farm 
in Greene Township which is occupied by 
his son, George A. This was his home 
for twenty-three years, when he retired to 



a well-earned repose, building a handsome 
and commodious residence in the village 
of Orrville. January 26, 1850, Mr. Fike 
was married to Miss Catherine Rinehart. 
born in Alsace-Loraine, October '2o. 
1825, who came to this country with her 
parents when six years old. They have 
six childi'en: Louisa E., William A.. 
George A., Joseph B., Jacob M. and 
Mary J. Mr. and Mrs. Fike are mem- 
bers of the Lutheran Church, of which 
he has been treasurer and trustee. He is 
a man of shrewd judgment, entirely self- 
made, and highly respected. 

William A. Fike, farmer, living on 
Section 14, Greene Township is the eld- 
est son of George Fike, and was born in 
Canaan Township, February 12, 1853. 
His education was received in the dis- 
trict schools, after wliich for a time lie 
worked at the bakery and confectionery 
business for awhile in Wooster. Pre- 
ferring farm life, he returned to his 
father's, where he remained until his mar- 
riage. September 5, 1876, he was mar- 
ried to Mary A., daughter of Henry B. 
and Elizabeth Hoover, whose history ap- 
pears on another page. She was born 
June 4, 1854, in the house where she now 
lives, and where her parents also live 
with her. Mr. and Mrs. Fike are the par- 
ents of four children, one of whom. Ida 
Grace, died at the age of eleven months. 
The siirvivors are Ada May, Alpha 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



16& 



Emma and William Heury Frederick. 
Mr. and Mrs. Fike also adopted in Sep- 
tember, 1878, a young girl, Cora Maud 
Ensworth, an orphan, then six years of 
age, whom they took from the Fairmount 
Orphan Home, at Alliance, Ohio, and who 
has been to them as their own. After 
his marriage Mr. Fike removed to the 
farm where he now lives, which for three 
years he rented from his wife's father. 
The following year was spent with his 
wife's parents on a place adjoining, and 
he theu, in 1880, bought a farm near 
Smithville, on which they lived for two 
years, when he sold it, and bought store 
property in Smithville. He and his wife, 
however, returned to the farm which has 
since been their home, and which he works. 
Mr. and Mrs. Fike are members of the Ger- 
man Reformed Church of Orrville,of which 
he is both deacon and clerk, a responsible 
trust for so young a man, but one which 
he discharges faithfully and satisfacto- 
rily. He has never lived out of Wayne 
County, and his life-long neighbors bear 
testimony to his integrity and his charac- 
ter as a good ma7i and good citizen. 

Geobge a. Fike is the second son of 
George Fike, and was born in Clinton 
Township, November 27, 1854. He at- 
tended the district schools, and later en- 
tered Prof. Eberly's select school at Smith- 
ville. After leaving there he engaged in 
teaching in his native county, and after- 



ward for two years in the State of Iowa. 
Coming back to Wayne County, he engaged 
in merchandising in Smithville, where he 
remained four years, but, preferring the 
life of a farmer, bought a farm in Canaan 
Township, which he yet owns. On that 
place he lived until his father's retire- 
ment, when the latter wished him to take 
the homestead, which he did. May 15, 
1879, Mr. Fike was married to Miss Ida 
E. Caskey, of Wayne Township, where she 
was born December 1, 1860. They have 
two children: Delia M. and Pearlie M. 
The parents of Mrs. Fike are residents of 
Wayne Township, where the family have 
long been settled. Her father, George 
Caskey, was born on tlie place where he 
now lives, which is the family homestead. 
Her mother was Miss Catherine Burk- 
holder, and also is yet living. Mr. and 
Mrs. Fike are members of the Lutheran 
Church at Smithville, and he bears the 
reputation of a young man of high prin- 
ciples and strict integrity. 



DR. BENJAMIN F. HOY was born 
in Holmesville, Holmes Co., Ohio, 
— ' June 22, 1801. His parents are 
Dr. George W. and Mary A. (Spearman) 
Hoy. The subject of this biographical 
memoir received his literary education at 



170 



WAYNE COUXTV. 



Muskiugum College, his medical edu- 
cation at Toledo aud CoLumbus, and he 
graduated from Toledo Medical College 
in 1883. He first located in Belmore, 
Putnam Co., Ohio, where he practiced 
his profession for three years. In 1886 
he came to Apple Creek, and here now 
enjoys an extensive practice. In 1887 
the Doctor was united in marriage with 
Miss Fannie F., daughter of T. J. Cross, 
of Putnam County, Ohio. Dr. Hoy has 
always taken an active part in Republican 
politics, and is chairman of the township 
committee. He is at this writing a can- 
didate for the office of coroner. He is a 
member of Apple Creek Lodge, No. 324, 
K. of P., Apple Creek, Ohio, Northwest- 
ern Ohio Medical Association, and Ohio 
State Pharmaceutical Association. 



THOMAS FERGUSON, son of Wal- 
ter and Rebecca (Paul) Ferguson, 
is a native of Westmoreland County, 
Penn., born June 7, 1825. His 
father was a native of Ireland, born in 
1786, and his mother was a native of 
Pennsylvania. They came with their 
family, including Thomas, our subject, to 
Wayne County, Ohio, in October, 1829, 
and located on Section 15, Congress 
Townshij). The father died in 1871, tiio 



mother in 1849. The father was twice 
married, and had a family of ten children, 
five born to each marriage. Rebecca 
Paul was his second wife. Two of the 
family are yet living. Walter Ferguson 
the father of Thomas, came with his father 
to this continent in 1789. They resided 
a few years in Cumberland County, Penn., 
and then moved to Westmoreland County, 
same State. Thomas, the subject of this 
memoir, was married in October, 1849, to 
Rebecca Jane, daughter of James Patter- 
son, who came to Wayne County, Ohio, 
sixty years ago, becoming one of the first 
settlers of Congress Township, where he 
died in February, 1867. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Ferguson were born eight children, 
all now living except one: James W., 
born December 17, 1850; Sydney M., 
born June 13, 1853, died October 13, 
1882; Emma V., born July 1, 1855; 
Reuben B., born May 18, 1858: Ohio P., 
born April 27, 1860; Charles E., born 
October 29, 1862; Thomas V., born Octo- 
ber 10, 1864; Mary J., born September 
11, 1867. 

Although our subject's opportunities 
for obtaining an education were very lim- 
ited in his day, as compared with the pres- 
ent, still his assiduous application to his 
books and stead^^ perseverance in his stud- 
ies have placed him above the average on 
the roll of well-read men in his county. 
For some time, while a young man, he 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



171 



taught school, and in after years his judg- 
ment and intelligence were recognized by 
the community in selecting him to assist 
in making the township assessments un- 
der the new law, and he has since served 
many times in the same capacity. Mr. 
Ferguson has for many years been a 
leader among the agriculturists and stock- 
raisers of Wayne County, where his sixty 
years of continuous residence places him 
among the foremost of the pioneers. He 
owns the old homestead on Section 15, 
before referred to, where his father so 
long lived, besides an excellent farm, one 
and a half miles west of the old farm 
place, where he at present resides. Polit- 
ically he is a Eepublican, having been an 
old-line Whig in his earlier life. 



y\ILLIAM P. BARNS is a son of 
James and Asenath (Mclntire) 
Barns, natives of West Virginia, 
who came to Wayne County, Ohio, about 
1828, and entered the farm in Canaan 
Township which is now owned by their 
son William P. They died, the father in 
1855, the mother in 1885. James Barns 
was formerly a Whig, and afterward a 
Republican. They reared ten children, 
as follows: Harrison, Rebecca, Emily E. 
and Franklin E., all deceased; Melissa, 



wife of James Orr, Tabitha C, Avife of 
Adam Smith, James A., Delilah, wife of 
Henry Snell, Jemima C, single, and 
William P., all living in Canaan Town- 
ship. Franklin E. was a soldier of the 
Sixteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Com- 
pany K, and died at Camp Dennison, Ohio. 
The subject of this memoir was born 
on the homestead he now owns, in Canaan 
Township, December 23, 18-17, and has 
since resided here. Tn 1878 he married 
Miss Viola J., daughter of Eli Snell, of 
Canaan, Wayne County, and by this union 
there have been two children, but one 
now living — Harrison ; Clyde is deceased. 
Mr. Barns is a member of the Repub- 
lican party, and has served as township 
trustee for a number of years. He is a 
member of Creston Lodge, No. 245, K. of 
P., and one of the highly respected citi- 
zens of Wayne County. 




JLLIAM H. SMITH was born in. 
Chippewa Township, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, in April, 1830, and is a son 
of Joseph G. and Mary (Frank) Smith. 
His paternal grandfather was Andrew 
Smith, formerly of Centre County, Penn., 
who settled about 1829 in Chippewa 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, where he 
cleared and improved a farm, on which, 



172 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



he lived aud died. His children were 
three in number, viz. : James, Joseph G. 
and William, all now deceased. Joseph 
G.. at his father's death, succeeded to the 
homestead, where he resided until his 
death, in 1872. His family consisted of 
six children, viz. : William H., Mettie 
(Mrs. John B. Zimmerman), Charles P., 
Arthur, Howard and Alice. 

The maternal grandfather of William 
H. Smith was Henry Frank, a native of 
Germany, born October 30, 1787, and who 
immigrated to America in 1791 with his 
parents, who located in Washington 
County, Penu. In 1792 his parents died, 
and he was bovand out to a farmer until 
twenty -one years of age, receiving for his 
services two suits of clothes and one pair 
of shoes per year. At seventeen years of 
age he ran away, and learned the potter's 
trade. In 1822 he came to Wayne Coun- 
ty, Ohio, locating in Canaan Township, 
where he worked at his trade and cleared 
a farm. In 1840 he moved to Chippewa 
Township, settling on the farm now occu- 
pied by his children, which he also 
cleared and improved, and here he resided 
until his death, which occurred in 1861. 
His wife was Jane, daughter of Charles 
and Mary A. Provines, of Washington 
County, Penn., and by her he had five 
children, as follows: Margaret, Mary 
(Mrs. Joseph G. Smith), Elizabeth (Mrs. 
Almon Butler), James P.. and Maria J. 



(Mrs. Newell Collins). Mr. Frank was 
a member of the Presbyterian Church; 
in politics he was a Eepublican. 

The subject proper of this memoir was 
reared and educated in his native town- 
ship. In early manhood he taught school, 
winters, working on the farm in summers. 
For four years he was a clerk in the hard- 
ware store at Doylestown of which he is 
now one of the proprietors, having pur- 
chased an interest in the business in 1885. 
December 27, 1870, he married Maria J., 
daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Craw- 
ford) Lucas, of Chippewa Township, 
Wayne County, and bj' her has two chil- 
dren : Ehoda and Lucy E. Mr. Smith is 
one of the representative citizens and busi- 
ness men of Doylestown, a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church and the 
Royal Arcanum; he is a Republican. 



P,HILIP PFEIFFER is one of the 
representative farmers of Chester 
Township. His father, Philip 
Pfeiffer, was a native of Bavaria, 
Germany, born in 1793. He was married 
in his native country to Elizabeth Rein- 
hammer, and in 1833 they left their native 
land and set sail for the United States. 
They came direct to Wayne County, Ohio, 
and located in Chester Township, where 



WAYNE COUXTY. 



173 



he bought 110 acres of haul, which to- 
gether they improved, making it their 
home until death. They were prominent 
citizens of the township and esteemed 
members of the Lutheran Church. The 
father died in 1856, and the mother in 
1S72. They had a family of ten children, 
five born in Germany and five in Ohio: 
Elizabeth, Catherine, Jacob, Philomena, 
Caroline, Susan, Philip, George, Sarah 
and Louisa. 

The second son, Philip, was born and 
reared on the homestead where he now 
lives. His interests have always been for 
the prosperity of his native countj', and 
whatever promises to be of benefit finds in 
him a hearty supporter. He has never 
married, but makes his home with a sister 
on the old home farm. He has been in- 
dustrious and frugal, and has made many 
improvements on the farm. In politics 
he is a Democrat. 



J. EBKIGHT, the owner of the 
Longmeadow Stock Farm, in Plain 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, is a 
sou of A. B. and Tamar (Freese) Eb- 
right, both natives of Pennsylvania. A. 
B. Ebright came to Ohio with his parents 
in 1834. He started in life without 
any worldly possessions, but with willing 



hands and a determination to succeed. 
He taught school for a period of fourteen 
years, in four sub-districts of Plain Town- 
ship. His first purchase of land was the 
farm now owned by his son, J. D. Ebright, 
in 1843. By prudence and industry he 
accumulated an excellent competency, 
which enabled him, before his death, to 
give each of his children a secure start 
in life. He was an active, efficient and 
consistent worker in and member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. In educa- 
tional affairs he occupied the front rank 
in building up our common-school system. 
He was a great reader, a fluent talker, 
and %vell informed on the leading ques- 
tions of the day. He devoted a liberal 
portion of his time to every enterprise 
for bettering the interests of humanity. 
"The elements so mixed in him that Na- 
ture might stand up and say to all the 
world, 'this was a man."" In June. 
1880, he was stricken with paralysis, by 
reason of which he gradually failed, till 
death relieved him of his sufferings July 
27, 1887. His widow, Mrs Tamar Eb- 
right, still survives him. As a helpmate, 
she was such in the highest sense of the 
word. Her life has been devoted to those 
with whom she was associated, exerting 
an influence by her Christian character 
that the sharp edges of the world cannot 
efface. Their children were as follows: 
Francis, born April 19, 1842; Artmisa, 



174 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



boil) May 31, 1843, died September 13, 
18(59; E. F., born October 2, 1845, living 
in Ashland County, Ohio; Ulalia, born 
May 11, 1851, died iu August, 1855; M. 
C, born December 2, 1853, died April 13, 
1879; G. J., born September 5, 1856; J. 
D., born June 17, 1859. 

G. J. Ebright attended a commercial 
school at Akron, Ohio, and Vermillion 
Institute, Hayesville, Ohio, after which 
he taught school for five years, then set- 
tled in Plain Township, where he follows 
farming and breeding thorough - bred 
Short-horn cattle. He is a man in which 
the characteristics of his father are strong- 
ly stamped, being energetic and a man of 
the day. In 1882 he married Ella Os- 
wald, of Wayne County, Ohio, and their 
union has been blessed with the following- 
named children: Ulalia, born July 13, 
1883; Melville, born August 5, 1885, both 
living. Mr. Ebright and family are mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 



DR. WILLIAM W. TAGGART, one 
of the well-known and highly es- 
— teemed physicians of AVooster, 
Wayne County, was born in Belmont 
County, Ohio, August 20, 1819. His 
grandfather, John Taggart, came to the 
United States from Ireland in 1771, and 



on the breaking out of the Revolution 
entered the ranks of the Continental army, 
serving until the close of the struggle. 
By occupation he was a farmer, living first 
in York County, Penn., and from there 
removing to Jefferson County, Ohio, and 
finally to Belmont County, same State, 
where he died in October, 1830, at the 
age of about eighty years. His wife, 
whose maiden name was Jane McCartney, 
bore him nine children, four sons and 
five daughters. 

Isaac Taggart, father of the subject of 
this memoir, and also a farmer, was a na- 
tive of Little York, Penn., born in 1780. 
He came with his parents to Jefferson 
County, Ohio, about the year 1797, and 
here grew to manhood on his father's 
farm. At the breaking out of the War of 
1812 he enlisted in the army, and spent 
one winter iu camp at Mansfield, Ohio. 
After the war he returned to the farm, and 
married Margaret, daughter of William 
and Margaret (Jackson) McCaughey, and 
a native of Chester County, Penn. Both 
her parents came from Ireland to Amer- 
ica about the year 1770, and her father 
became a soldier in the War of the Revo- 
lution. About 1801 they moved to Jeffer- 
son County, Ohio, where Mr. McCaughey 
followed his trade, that of weaver, and in 
1836 he broke the thread of life, at the 
age of over seventy years. His widow 
died at the home of her daughter (the 






<^ f ^(^<^^ /^,^, 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



177 



mother of our subject), in Belmont County, 
Ohio, in her ninety-fourth year. Two 
sons and four daughters blessed their 
wedded life. After marriage Mr. and 
Mrs. Isaac Taggart moved to Belmont 
County, Ohio, wkere they set to work to 
clear for themselves a home out of the 
forest. John Taggart had purchased here 
400 acres of wild land, and gave each of 
three of his sons 100 acres. On this 
farm they spent the remainder of their 
lives, and in June, 1830, Mr. Taggart was 
called from his labors; his widow died in 
1869, at the age of ninety-three years. 
They were quiet, progressive people, Mr. 
Taggart taking little active part in polit- 
ical affairs. His widow retained her 
memory to a remarkable degree up to the 
day of her death. They were the parents 
of five children who grew to maturity, 
four sons and one daughter, all of whom, 
save our subject and one brother, have 
passed from earth. Of these, Isaac, an 
M. D., died in Belmont County, Ohio, in 
18'''2; John, a farmer, died in Illinois in 
1886; Margaret died at the age of eight- 
een years; Joseph now resides on the old 
homestead. 

Dr. Taggart, the subject of this com- 
memorative sketch, was but eleven years 
old when his father died, and being the 
eldest son in the family had early in life 
to assume the duties of a man — working 
on the farm in summer, and attending the 

10 



old-time district schools in winter. When 
in his seventeenth year he commenced 
school-teaching, a profession he followed 
for five terms. His summers he spent at 
Franklin College and in private schools, 
where he was prosecuting his literary 
studies; but having made up his mind 
that the medical profession should be his 
life-work, he began its study in the 
spring of 1841, in the office of Dr. H. 
West, of St. Clairsville, Ohio, with whom 
he remained two years, during which time 
he attended a course of lectures at Wil- 
loughby, same State. In the spring of 
1843 he commenced practice at Vienna, 
Harrison Co., Ohio, but, not liking the 
place, he came to Wayne County in June, 
same year, locating at Smithville. In 
1846-47 he attended a course of lectures 
at Cleveland Medical College, from which 
he graduated the same year. June 1, 
1843, Dr. Taggart was united in marriage 
with Margaret McCaughey, daughter of 
William and Jane McCoy, and a native 
of Stark County, Ohio, born in March, 
1817, and together they came to Smith- 
ville, as above related. In 1860 lie 
bought a farm some two miles east of 
Wooster, on which he resided eight years, 
still practicing his profession, and in 1868 
he moved finally to the city of Wooster, 
where he has since made his home. On 
the 23d of January, 1884, death took 
from him his beloved wife, then iu her 



178 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



sixty seveuth year. She was au esteemed 
member of the United Presbyterian 
Church, and au active worker in the Wo- 
man's Mission Society. Shewasa woman 
of much more than ordinary executive 
ability, and was a successful teacher, a 
fond and devoted wife and mother, and 
her memory is fondly cherished by hus- 
band and children. She left four chil- 
dren, as follows: William Rush, who was 
for eleven years attorney for the Pitts- 
burgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Eailroad 
at Salem, Ohio, now practicing law in New 
York City; Frank, a lawyer in Wooster, 
Ohio; Clementine, keeping house for her 
father, and Margaret, now the wife of J. 
M. Greenslade, superintendent of public 
schools at Lima, Ohio. 

The Doctor cast his first vote for Van 
Buren, in 1840, and remained a Democrat 
until 1854, when, not agreeing with his 
party on the slavery question, he became 
one of the organizers of the Republican 
party in Wayne County. In 1856 he be- 
came a candidate for the State Legisla- 
ture, but the county (Wayne) was too 
Democratic to admit of his success in 
the campaign. During the War of the 
Rebellion the Doctor was in the Govern- 
ment service as examining surgeon for the 
first draft. In 1862 he became surgeon of 
the One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, but, his health failing, 
he was compelled to return to Wooster, 



where for a time he was assistant exam- 
iner in the marshaPs office. Dr. Taggart 
is au elder in the United Presbyterian 
Church of Wooster, of which for many 
years he has been a prominent member. 
His life, both professionally and socially, 
has been a very active one, and now, at 
the age of seventy years, he is gradually 
retiring from the busy world, in the quiet 
enjoyment of the respect and esteem of 
a wide circle of friends. 



G^APT. G. P. EMRICH. This well- 
|, known gentleman is a native of 
— Berks County, Penn., born Septem- 
ber 15, 1821, and is a son of Joseph and 
Elizabeth (Keiser) Emrich, both born in 
the same county. His father was by oc- 
cupation a farmer, and for several years 
after his marriage remained in Berks 
County, but in the spring of 1831 he 
determined to try his fortunes in Ohio, 
and made the journey, with his wife and 
four children, by wagon across the mount- 
ains. They safely reached their destina- 
tion in Wayne County, and settled on a 
farm which he bought four miles north of 
Wooster, in Wayne Township, on which 
they passed the rest of their lives. The 
father died in August, 1863, aged seventy 
years, and the mother followed him to the 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



179 



great hereafter iu December following. 
They had spent a long and happy life to- 
gether, and iu death were not long sun- 
dered. This worthy couple had one son 
and three daughters, as follows: Cather- 
ine, widow of Benjamin Norton, of Reeds- 
burgh. Wayne County; Lucetta, wife of 
W. D. Rath, of Wayne Township; G. P., 
and Lydia, wife of Dr. W. H. Hayes, of 
Lansing, Mich. The father was a pub- 
lic-spirited man, and an ardent worker 
in every enterprise for the good of Wayne 
County, where lie owned a considerable 
quantity of land. From childhood he 
and his wife had been members of the 
Lutheran Church, and both possessed in 
a marked degree the confidence of their 
fellow-men. 

The early life of the subject of this 
sketch was passed on his father's farm, 
which he afterward owned. His earliest 
education was received in the primitive 
district schools of the day, but after com- ' 
ing to Ohio he had an opportunity to at- 
tend a select school, established to meet 
the need felt for a better education than 

was common at that day. Wiien twenty- 

j I 

two years old he was united in marriage 
with Miss Sarah Fryberger, daughter of 
Jacob and Elizabeth Fryberger, of Berks 
County, Penn. After a happy wedded 
life of about a score of years, she passed to 
her last sleep in April. 1803, at the age 
of forty-one years, leaving four cliildren, 



viz.: Elizabeth L., wife of Rev. C. E. 
McKane, of Kansas City, Kans. ; Jacob 
W., a manufacturer of Toledo, Ohio; Alice, 
now Mrs. W. H. Felger, of Manstield, Ohio, 
and Florence, wife of Rev. C. H. Rockey, 
of Columbia City, Ind. In 1862, the Civil 
War being in progress, Mr. Emrich raised 
a company for the One Hundred and 
Twentieth Regiment Ohio Infantry, and 
was commissioned its captain. He saw 
active service, and took part in the siege 
of Yicksburg, the battle of Arkansas Post, 
and iu minor engagements. On account 
of failing health he resigned April 1, 1863, 
and reached home but two weeks before 
the death of his faithful wife. 

In August, 1865, Capt. Emrich was 
again married, his bride being Miss Kate 
Garver, daughter of Jacob and Mary (Lu- 
cas) Garver. Her father was an early 
settler in AVayue County, and a leading 
elder in the Dunkard Church. Capt. 
Emrich owned the homestead farm, on 
which he made his home until the spring 
of 1880. By this second union two chil- 
dren were born: Charles F., a resident 
of San Antonio, Tex., and Edward L., a 
graduate in the classical course of Woos- 
tev University of the class of 1889, now 
engaged in the study of medicine in the 
office of Drs. J. H. StoU & Ryall. in 
Wooster, Ohio. 

In 1859 the brick for our subject's 
commodious home ou North Market 



180 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Street, Wooster, was made on the home 
farm, and the house was built in 1860. 
That same year the Captain was a candi- 
date for the office of county clerk, but, 
being an ardent Republican, while the 
county was strongly Democratic, he was 
naturally defeated, although running sev- 
eral hundred ahead of his ticket, showing 
the estimation in which he is held by those 
who know him best. Several years later he 
was a candidate for county treasurer, and 
again he was nearly elected. In the town- 
ship of Wayne he was elected township 
clerk and justice of the peace a number of 
terms. 

In 1880 Capt. Emrich left the farm and 
came to the home which he had built in 
Wooster, and has ever since resided there. 
With four others he formed a banking 
association in 1865, under the name of 
Bonewitz, Emrich & Co., which afterward 
became the National Bank of Wooster, 
and was president of the same for fifteen 
years. Their business was not confined 
to Wayne County, they having business 
connections elsewhere, notably in Phila- 
delphia and New York. Capt. Emrich 
also engaged in dealing in real estate, 
which he is still following at this writing. 
He is an outspoken, thorough-going busi- 
ness man, whose word can always be de- 
pended upon, and who possesses the con- 
fidence and respect of those who know 
him. He is ever willing to help any proj- 



ect for the good of the neighborhood and 
county. Both he and his wife attend the 
Presbyterian Church of Wooster, and the 
latter is closely identified with the wom- 
en's organizations of the church. He is 
a Master Mason, and a member of the 
G. A. R. 



ON. STODDARD, LL. D., of Woos- 
ter, Wayne Co., Ohio, is a descend- 
~~-^ ant of the well-known Massachusetts 
family of that name, his ancestors having 
been among the Puritans who settled in 
Boston at an early day. His grandfather. 
Orange Stoddard, was a general in the 
Continental army during the struggle for 
independence. His father, James Stod- 
dard, was married to Miss Lucy Steel. 

The subject of these lines was born 
August 23, 1812, in the State of New 
York, and received his education at Union 
College, Schenectady, N. Y., graduatijig 
in 1836. He then spent a few years in 
Virginia, two and a half years in AVash- 
ington, D. C, and three years in Ken- 
tucky, and in 1845 became identified with 
the Miami University, where he filled tlie 
chair of natural science and chemistry, 
and for a time was president j;)-o ii'iii. 
This position he resigned in 1870, remov- 
ing to Wooster to accept a professors! lip 
in the university there, which had just 



WAYNE COUXTY. 



181 



been opened. lu tliis couHectioii he cou- 
tinued until 1SS4, when he resigned. 
Since then Dr. Stoddard has given a year- 
ly course of lectures to the senior class of 
the university upon the " Relations of 
Mind to Body." While at the Miami 
University Dr. Stoddard kept complete 
records of the rain and snow fall, temper- 
ature, etc., and since coming to Wooster 
has given the same subjects considerable 
attention, reporting the results of his ob- 
servations to the Ohio Bureau of Meteor- 
ological Research, and also to the Weather 
Bureau at Washington. 

Dr. Stoddard has been three times mar- 
ried. His first wife lived only about fif- 
teen months, and died in Washington, 
D. C. His family consists of four daugh- 
ters by his second marriage: the eldest is 
Mrs. Lucy S. Hamilton, of Washington 
Court House, Fayette Co., Ohio; Mrs. 
Alice Ankeney, of Alpha, Ohio; Louise 
W., who is unmarried and living with her 
father, and Mrs. Mary S. Longbrake, of 
Minneapolis, Minn. The Doctor is a man 
of decided political views, but has never 
taken an active part in public affairs. He 
is a member of the Presbyterian Church 
at Wooster, and for forty j'oars has been 
an elder in that denomination. The pres- 
ent wife of Dr. Stoddard, to whom he was 
married in 1886, was Mrs. Mary J. Cul- 
bertson, a daughter of the well-known 
Gen. Reasin Beall. She was born in 



what is now the flourishing city of Woos- 
ter, but the site of which was then a farm. 
In this place her life has been principally 
passed. She was the youngest of eight 
daughters. Her parents had but one sou, 
who died before reaching three years of 
age. 

Gen. Beall was a native of Marjdaud, 
born in Montgomery County in 1769. 
His father, Zephaniah Beall, was a soldier 
in the Revolutionary War, and he himself 
was a soldier in the War of 1812, serving 
with Gen. William H. Harrison in "Mad " 
Anthony Wayne's command, being made 
an ensign at the time of the latter's ap- 
pointment, and he was a warm personal 
friend of the afterward President Harri- 
son. He also, in 1790, took part in an 
expedition fitted out to mai'ch against the 
Indians on the Miami. His civil career 
was no less distinguished. When but 
fourteen years old he entered the office of 
Hon. Thomas Scott, prothonotary of 
Washington County, Penn., and later 
was clerk of the court of common pleas, 
and also of the supreme court, at New 
Lisbon, Columbiana Co., Ohio, whither 
he had moved from Pennsylvania prior 
to the War of 1812. These offices he 
held nearly the whole time he remained 
in the county. In the spring of 1813 
President Madison issued a call for a 
special session of Congress, and Mr. Beall 
was chosen to a seat, where he served with 



182 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



credit to himself and satisfactorily to his 
coustitueuts. In 1815 Gen. Beall removed 
to Wooster, and was appointed register 
of the land office at that place. This 
position he held until 1824, when he re- 
signed it. In 184:0 he was chosen a presi- 
dential elector, and had the satisfaction of 
casting his vote for his old friend, Gen. 
Harrison. November 4, 1794, Gen. Beall 
was united in marriage with Miss Rebecca 
Johnson, who bore him nine children, 
Mrs. Stoddard being the sole survivor. 
The mother passed from earth August 30, 
1840, and two and a half j^ears later her 
husband joined her on the other shore, i 
dying February 20, 1843, and two days 
later his body was interred in the Wooster 
Cemetery with military honors. 

Such is in brief the record of the life 
of one who bore no insignificant part in 
the history of his times. A man of ability 
and of undoubted integrity, he left his 
impress on the community in which he 
lived, and in the guidance of whose public 
affairs he took a leading part, and his 
death was regarded as a public loss. [ 



S. SHILLING, one of Wooster's 
^^ well-known citizens, is a native of 
Wayne County, born October 30, 
1828. His father, Peter Shilling, was a 



native of Chambersburgh, Franklin Co., 
Penn., born in 1803. He grew to mauhood 
in his native county, where he learned the 
trade of shoemaking, and in 1824, when 
twenty-one years of age, was united in 
marriage with Nancy Ann Eodocker, a na- 
tive of York County, Penn., who had been 
reared near Massillon,Ohio, where her par- 
ents had settled when she was but six 
years of age. Of their marriage eleven 
sons were born, of whom there are now 
surviving but our subject and one brother, 
Isaiah B., of Sugar Creek Township, 
in this county. 

Peter Shilling and his family decided to 
make Wayne County their home, and here 
the father cultivated a farm, and for a 
number of years carried on his trade in 
connection therewith. In 1879 the last 
summons came to the mother, who passed 
away at the age of seventy-eight years, 
having been born in 1801, and in 1881 the 
husband and father followed his life's 
partner to the grave, aged seventy-eight 
years also. Mr. Shilling was one of the 
founders of the Reformed Lutheran 
Church at West Lebanon, in Sugar Creek 
Township, and always remained a pious 
and consistent member. He and his wife 
enjoyed the esteem of the community, and 
were universally respected for their good 
qualities and upright lives. The paternal 
ancestors of the family were of English - 
German origin, ami on the maternal side 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



183 



were of Dutch extractiou, and had settled 
in this coimtry in Puritan times. 

S. S. Shilling, the subject of our sketch, 
was reared upon the farm, and received his 
education in the log school-house of the 
period. At the age of seventeen he was 
hired out to a neighbor to work for seven 
mouths for §50 and his board. The fol- 
lowing June he attended school at Mas- 
sillon, Ohio, and the ensuing winter he 
began teaching. This occupation he fol- 
lowed for four winters, and in 1849 learned 
the new art of daguerreotyping, and 
opened a gallery at Massillon. Two years 
later he removed to Canton, Ohio, and the 
following year, 1852, was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Allatha Cole, daughter of 
Joshua and Caroline (Armstrong) Cole, 
a native of llichmond, Jefferson Co., Ohio. 
Her paternal ancestors were of English 
lineage, and her grandparents were na- 
tives of Maryland. On her maternal side 
her ancestors came from Ireland, at a very 
early day in the history of the country. 
When Mrs. Shilling was but eight years of 
age her parents removed to Stark County, 
Ohio, where the husband and father went 
to his last sleep in 1881, at the age of 
eighty-two years. The widowed mother 
still lives on the home farm, and is now 
(1888) aged eighty-six years. To this 
worthy couple had been born eight chil- 
dren, of whom but three now survive, and 
Mrs. Shilling is the only one in Wayne 



County. Mr. Cole, by reason of his un- 
failing good nature, was familiarly known 
by all who knew him as " Uncle Josh," 
and was noted as a fine marksman, a de- 
sirable accomplishment in those times. 
He was strongly attached to the Kepub- 
lican party from its formation; was a mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal Cliurch; 
was in every way highly esteemed by all 
who knew him, and was greatly missed. 

After his marriage our subject moved 
to West Lebanon, where he encjajjed in 
mercantile business, which he carried on 
there until 1801, when he removed to 
Wooster, and built the house wliicli has 
since been his home. He was engaged 
in McDonald's foundry at Wooster. He 
was a member of the Wooster National 
Guards, and in 1864 was called out, and 
went with his company to Washington, 
whence they were sent to man Fort Ethan 
Allen, near Georgetown, on the Potomac. 
The guards were discharged in Se])tem- 
ber, and on his return to Wooster Mr. 
Shilling resumed his employment in the 
iron works, where he continued until 1874, 
when he purchased the Newman Bus 
Line, which he ran for twelve years, when 
he retired from the more arduous labors 
of life, and has since been engaged in busi- 
ness as a broker, taking life more easy. 

Of Mr. and Mrs. Shilling's union two 
children were born, both deceased: one, 
Melaucthon, at the age of three years', 



aud the other iu infaucy, uuuamed. In 
every particular Mr. Shilliug is a self- 
made man, aud lie and liis wife have 
labored together, thereby secui-ing the 
competence of which they are now iu the 
enjoyment. Although now past sixty 
vears of age, he is well preserved and in 
good health, the result of a well-ordered 
aud temperate life, he never having used 
intoxicating liquors or tobacco iu auy 
form. Iu his political views he is strongly 
Republican, aud he is a member of the 
I. 0. 0. F., belouging to the Encampment. 
Himself and his esteemed wife are mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and both are held in high regard by every- 
one who kuows them. 



OLOMON RUMBAUGH, farmer, 

kj Chester Township, was born in 
Chester Towuship, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, December 17, 182G. His father, 
Adam Rumbaugh, was a native of North- 
ampton County, Penu., born April 22, 
1793, aud March IG, 1815. married Eliza- 
beth Lauffer, and to them were born 
eleveu children: Isaac, John, Maria, 
Henry, David, Solomon, AYilliam, Sarah, 
Hannah, Jacob and Elizabeth. The fam- 
ily is of German ancestry, three brothers 
at a veiy early day immigratiug to Amer- 



ica, aud settling iu Pennsylvania, Virginia 
and Canada. The great-grandfather of 
our subject chose Pennsylvania as his 
abiding place, aud at the outbreak of the 
Revolutionary War was one of the heroes 
to volunteer in the defense of his adopted 
country. He was thrice married, and was 
the father of twenty-five children, eleveu 
born to the second aud fourteen to the 
third marriage. In the early days of 
Wayne County, Ohio, Adam Rumbaugh 
became one of its pioneers, locating on a 
tract of 160 acres of timber-laud, for 
which he paid §300. He preceded his 
family to the county, and before their 
coming cleared some of the land and built 
a log cabin. Although a poor man when 
he came to Wayne County, he, bj- industry 
and energy, became oue of the most well- 
to-do citizens of his towuship, aud at his 
death left a large property, which was 
divided among his children. 

Solomon Rumbaugh made his home 
with his father until twenty-nine years of 
age. He has made agriculture his life- 
work, aud is one of the most enterprising 
and progressive citizens of his towuship. 
His fiue farm of 100 acres, which was a 
part of his father's estate, is among the 
most fertile aud best improved farms in 
the county. 

He has always been prominently iden- 
tified with all measures that are beneficial 
to the county, and is one of its repre- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



185 



seiitative citizens. lu politics lie is a 
Democrat, and, while in no sense a poli- 
tician, is one of his party's most ardent 
supporters. He was married, August 21, 
1^55, to Mary, daughter of Abraham and 
Sarah (Rouch) Miller. They have six 
cli ildreu : Philena Jane, born November 12, 
ls.jt>; Sarah (now Mrs. Wile), born in 
lsr,0: Miller I., born March 13, 1862; 
Ninnie E., born February 24, 1869; 
Clialmer A., born October 4, 1872, and 
Lydia M., born May 5, 1875. Mrs. Rum- 
baugh and her eldest two daughters are 
members of the Lutheran Church, and 
her two sons and her youngest two daugh- 
ter.s are members of the Reformed Church. 



BENJAMIN BRENNER, a minister 
and prominent farmer of Wayne 

' Township, was born October 24, 

1831), in Lancaster County, Penn. Chris- 
to[)her Brenner, his father, was born De- 
cember 17, 1810, also in Lancaster 
County, and was the only sou of John 
Adam and Elizabeth (Hubley) Brenner. 
Christopher was married Decembe]- 3, 
1^35, to Catherine, daughter of Jacob 
and Barbara Schock. Five children, two 
sons and three daughters, were born to 
them, as follows: Sarah S., born August 
18, 1888; Elizabeth, November 26, 1840; 



Benjamin, October 24, 1839; Christian. 
August 5, 1849; Catherine, in 1855. 
Christopher Brenner was a shoemaker by 
trade. In 1855, with his wife and four 
children, he came to Wayne County, 
where he purchased 118 acres of land in 
Greene Township, and remained there 
until he died. In 1872 he retired from 
farming, and purchased seventy-three 
acres of land in Wayne Township, which 
is now in the possession of his eldest 
daughter, Sarah S. Mr. Brenner was a 
very successful farmer, and left his chil- 
dren in comfortable circumstances at his 
death. He died in 1886, and his wife in 
1879, aged sixty -one years. Sarah S., the 
eldest daughter, now resides on the home 
farm, where her father died, and is a 
highly respected lady. 

Benjamin Brenner was educated in the 
common schools in Lancaster County, 
Penn., and also in Wayne County. In 1863 
he was married to Elizabeth Lougenecker, 
daughter of Samuel and Magdaline (Bru- 
baker) Longenecker, the former of Lan- 
caster County, Penn., and the latter of 
Lebanon County, same State. One child 
was the result of this marriage, Eleanora, 
born in 1865. One hundred and eleven 
acres of the land where Mr. Brenner now 
lives was his father's property, and orig- 
inallj' that of Joseph Lauk. Since twen- 
ty-one years of age Mr. Brenner has been a 
minister, having been ordained at that age. 



186 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



r/ IDEON SMOKEK, farmer, residiug 
on Section 15, Greene Township, 
Wayne Co. , Ohio, is the representa- 
tive of a family well known in the his- 
tory of the county. They were of German 
extraction, and the ancestors came to 
America prior to the War of the Kevolu- 
tion, and settled in Pennsylvania. Christ- 
ian Smoker, grandfather of Gideon, lived 
originally in Lancaster County, Penn., and 
from there removed to Mifflin County, and 
thence emigrated to Wayne County, Ohio, 
in 1828, over sixty-one years ago. He 
was twice married before coming: here, 
his first wife being a Miss Stutzman, 
and the second Fanny Livengoot. When 
he came to Ohio he had several grown-up 
children, and in this county two more 
were born. They located first on Section 
16, Greene Township, afterward removing 
to Wayne Township, near Madisonburgh, 
where the father died in 1851. His wife, 
Fanny, survived him nearly thirty years. 
By his first wife Christian Smoker had 
the following children: John, Christian, 
David, Isaac, Elizabeth, Barbara, Nancy 
and Fanny. Of these, Isaac is living in 
LaGrange County, Ind. ; Elizabeth is the 
widow of Christian Augsberger, and lives 
in Lancaster County, Penn., not having 
come to Ohio; Barbara is the widow of 
David Kauffman, autl is in Kansas ; Nancy 
is the widow of Joseph Kauffman, and is a 
resident of Indiana. The children of the 



second wife were Joel, now living in Ful- 
ton County, Ohio; Jonathan, deceased: 
Jacob, a resident of Elkhart County, Ind. : 
Joseph, living in Noble County. Ind. ; 
Catherine, wife of Joshua Toder, in Mad- 
isonburgh, this county, and Lydia, wife 
of Samuel Slyock, of Greene Township, 
this county. The honored pioneer, the 
father of this numerous family, lived in 
Wayne County more than a quarter of a 
century, and had hosts of friends here. 

David Smoker, a son of the first wife, 
was the father of Gideon. He was born 
in Lancaster County, Penn., in 1805, and 
died here on March 3, 1879. In Penn- 
sylvania he had learned the trade of a 
cooper, but after his marriage gave all 
his time to farming. , He was married to 
Anna, daughter of Christian and Cather- 
ine Brant, natives of Switzerland, and 
early settlers in Wayne County. David 
Smoker and wife bad eight children: 
Christian, who died in childhood; Eliza- 
beth, wife of J. S. Burkholder, of Greene 
Township; Sarah, wife of Samuel Hartz- 
ler, now in Noble County, Ind. ; Gideon. 
David J., and Jonas, who live in Greene 
Township; Nancy, wife of J. K. Burk- 
holder, also in Greene Township, and Cath- 
erine, deceased wife of Jonathan Hostet- 
tler. The father of this family was a 
pious, conscientious man, of pure charac- 
ter, and was for many years a member of 
the Amish Mennouite Church, which he 



....ja' 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



Ibl 



had joined iu Peimsylvania. Temperate, 
frugal and iudiistrious, he accumulated a 
competence, and gave each of his children 
a good^start in life. When he bought the 
farm on which his sou Jonas now lives he 
liad not a dollar to pay on it, but he soon 
paid for it out of the land, then bought 
another, which he paid for in tlie same 
manner — a fair indication of the habits 
and character of the man. 

Gideon Smoker, our subject, was born 
in Greene Township, November 8, 1835. 
His life-long occupation has been farm- 
ing. When of age he rented his father's 
second farm, on which he lived until 1862, 
wlien he bought the place which has since 
been his home. On March 11, 1858, he 
was married to Magdalena Zook, who was 
born in Greene Township, December 30, 
1837, and died October 3, 1876, aged 
thirty-eight years, nine months and five 
days. She was a piovis woman, a member 
of the Amish Mennonite Church, a faith- 
ful wife and devoted mother, who instilled 
into the minds of her children, by both 
precept and example, true Christian prin- 
ciples. She was the mother of nine chil- 
dren, of whom the youngest died Febru- 
ary 211, 1876, aged five months. The eld- 
est daughter, Catherine, is the wife of 
Jacob Hooley, of Greene Township; the 
rest are unmarried. Jerome, David and 
Samuel carry on the Wayne County 
Creamery, and live on the premises ; Mary 



Ann, Amos, Elmer and Emma live with 
their father. Mr. Smoker has led a quiet, 
uneventful life, doing his duty well in the 
sphere into which he has been called. He 
is a successful farmer, and has also given 
considerable attention to raising and fatten- 
ing stock, and keeps a fine stallion on his 
premises. He belongs to the Oak Grove 
Amish Mennonite Church, and among 
the people with whom his whole life has 
been spent he is esteemed as an honor- 
able, upright man and a good neighbor. 



'pN B. WASSON, treasurer of Wayne- 
ff^ County, Ohio, is one of its sons, 
Jj -^ being born in Wayne Township 
March 28, 1883. His father, named 
David, was a native of the Keystone 
State, and came when young to Ohio, be- 
ing one of the early settlers of Wayne 
Township and County. Joseph Wasson, 
grandfather of our subject, was an En- 
glishman by birth, and immigrated when 
young to this country, settling iu Penn- 
sylvania, where he was united in marriage 
with Miss Jane McConaha. David Was- 
son spent his youth on his father's farm, 
and on reaching manhood was married to 
Margaret, daughter of Thomas Beall. Of 
this union seven children were born, two 
of whom survive: Mrs. Lydia C. Collins, 



188 



]VAYNE COUXrV. 



living ou the homestead iu Wayne Town- 
ship, and R. B. In 1845 death entered 
the household of the Wassons, claiming 
the wife and mother, who was then but 
thirty-five years of age. Her husband 
survived her many years, dying in 1882, 
at the age of seventy-seven years. He 
was one of the stanchest Republicans of 
his township, and had held various offices 
of trust and responsibility, those who 
knew him having unbounded confidence 
in his ability and integrity. He and his 
wife were both members of the Presby- 
terian Church. 

R. B. Wasson spent his earlier years on 
the home farm, getting his education in 
the log school-house of the period. In 
1852, when eighteen years old, he joined 
a party going to California in search of 
gold. For six months he drove oxen, 
sheep, etc., across the plains, and finally 
reached the haven of his desires. For 
eight years he followed mining iu Cali- 
fornia, with the exception of one summer, 
■which he spent upon a ranch. In 1860 
he returned to Waj'ne County, and the 
following year he passed as clerk in a 
dry goods store at Doylestown, giving 
that up to become a farmer in his native 
township. Marclj 23, 1861, Mr. Wasson 
was married to Miss Liicetta Franks, 
daugliter of Abraham and Lyilia (Block- 
er) Franks, and a native of Doylestown. 
Eisht children came to bless tiieir union 



(seven of whom are now surviving) : Abra- 
ham, the eldest, is deceased; Amanda is 
wedded to Mr. C. Zimmer, of Wooster; 
John, Mattie B., Richard, Kate, Thomas 
and Louis F. are still under the parental 
roof. 

In 1865 Mr. Wasson began dealing ex- 
tensively in lumber, shipping from Can- 
ada to the United States. Later he en- 
gaged in the saw-mill business in Western 
Ohio, and a year thereafter established a 
saw-mill at Nashville, Mich. In 1876 he 
withdrew from the lumber business in 
Ohio and Michigan, and the following 
year shipped lumber from Virginia to 
New York, finally retiring from the busi- 
ness in 1878, and going onto his farm in 
Wayne Township, where he has spent 
most of his time since. Politically Mr. 
Wasson was classed as an independent 
until 1872, when he identified himself 
with the Democratic party, with which he 
has since continued to act. He has held 
many positions of trust and responsibility. 
He has Vieen a member of the school 
board, township trustee, and member of 
the village council, and was elected to the 
first council of the village council. A 
number of times he has been a candidate 
for the office of county treasurer, to which 
he was elected in 1887, and is now filling 
] that responsible position. In every office 
! that he has been called iipon to fill he has 
(liscliarged its duties with fidelity and 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



ISO- 



care, aud has wou the highest regard of 
all who know him. Socially he is identi- 
fied with the Masonic fraternity and with 
the Knights of Pythias. 



LEONARD R. BOWMAN. The 
I Bowman family are of German and 

' French descent. David Bowman, 

a native of Wartemberg, Germany, and 
his wife, Elizabeth, a native of Alsace, 
France (now Germany), immigrated to 
America with one daughter in 1755. On 
their voyage to this country, October 25, 
1755, a son was born, and named Philip. 
They settled in Philadelphia, where the 
father died in 1757. Philip learned the 
shoemaker's trade, which he followed 
until the beginning of the Revolutionary 
War, when he enlisted, aud served three 
years. He was with Washington at the 
capture of the Hessians posted at Trenton, 
and gained the rank of lieutenant as a 
reward of bravery. After the close of 
the war he migrated to Fayette County, 
Penn., and was soon afterward married to 
Catherine, daughter of Nichola.s Fast, of 
Pfalz, Germany. In ISOti they removed 
from Fayette County, Penn., to Mahoning 
County, Ohio, and settled in Greene Town- 
ship. Their family consisted of twelve 
children, all of whom are dead. 



The eldest, John Jacob, was born No- 
vember 23, 1779, and married, October 
31, 1803, Charlotte, daughter of Rev. 
John and Elizabeth (Hogmire) Stough 
(the first Lutheran minister to cross the 
Alleghany Mountains), and they settled 
and died in Columbiana County, Ohio. 
Tlieir family consisted of Jonas, Eliza- 
beth, John, Philip, Samuel and Joshua. 
Jonas Bowman was born in Columbiana 
County, Ohio, November 17, ISOi, and 
was married to Margaret, daughter of 
Leonard Richards, of Steubeuville, Ohio,, 
and entered a tract of 320 acres of land 
in East Union Township, Wayne County. 
He died March 8, 1869, a prominent 
member of the Lutheran Evangelical 
Church. His widow yet lives on the 
homestead with her sou. Nine children 
were born to them: Elizabeth, wife of 
Peter Mowrei-, of East Union Township, 
Wayne County ; John, also in East Union 
Township; Leonard R. ; Sarah, the late 
Mrs. Levi Daniels; Wesley, in Medina 
County, Ohio; Samuel, deceased; Harri- 
son, in Orrville, Ohio; Mai-y, wife of Ja- 
cob Kesslar, of East Union Townsliip, and 
Joshua, on the homestead. 

Leonard R. Bowman was born November 
18, 1831, married November 6, 1855, to 
Isabella Agues, daughter of Moses Cherry, 
and then located on his present farm in 
EastUuionTownship. Their children were 
Keller Cherry, who died May (>, 1857: 



190 



WAYNE COUNTY 



Samuel Baltzly, who died April 8, 1858; 
Jonas, born April 5, 1859, and is engaged 
in mercantile business in Wadswortli, 
Ohio; May Ida, at home; Williard Grant, 
at home; Elmina Belle, at home; L. Ver- 
non,who died March 21, 1880. The mother 
died December 4, 1880. Mr. Bowman is 
one of the thorough representatiA'e farmers 
of East Union Township. He votes the 
Kepublican ticket; lias been an elder in 
the East Union Lutheran Church for 
twentj'-seven years. 



jjOHN C. SIDLE, son of John and 
>, I Joanna (Carson) Sidle, both natives 
— of Pennsylvania, was born April 25, 
1859, in Plain Township, Wayne Co., 
Ohio. His father was one of the pioneers 
of Plain Township, coming here from 
York County, Peun., in 1828, and settling 
on the farm in that township now occu- [ 
pied by his son, John C. He was mar- ' 
ried March 30, 1843, and became the 
father of four sons and three daughters, 
viz.: W. H., born October 22, 1845, now 
living in Shreve, Wayne Co., Ohio; James 
C, born February 13, 1850; L. P., born 
March 14, 1852; John C. ; Mary Ellen, , 
wife of S. P. Burnett, of Shreve, Ohio; i 
Lucinda Jane, born November 12, 1847, ■ 
married I. H. Aylesworth. of Big Prairie, 



Ohio; and Clara C, born January 30, 
1856, married to S. G. Gill, of Keeds- 
burgh, Wayne County. 

Of these, John C. was married June 29, 
1884, to Isa Palmer, of Jeromeville, Ohio, 
and their children are Nina Maj-, born 
April 27, 1885 ; Edna Vera, born March 11, 
1887, and Benjamin Harrison, born April 
14, 1889. Mr. Sidle has been engaged in 
teaching for the past ten winters, attend- 
ing the duties of the farm during the 
summer. He has paid considerable atten- 
tion to the breeding of and dealing in 
fine-blooded stock, and has at present on 
his farm some full-blooded Hereford cat- 
tle and Shropshire sheep. His success at 
different county fairs in 1887 and 1888 
prove the quality and breeding of his 
stock to be the best, having taken twenty 
first and five second premiums. In politics 
Mr. Sidle is a stanch Republican. 



JjACOB HOLMES was born in West- 
j moreland County, Penn., April 2, 
— 1814, son of Daniel Holmes, also a 
native of Pennsylvania, who came to Ohio, 
settling in Congress Township, Wayne 
County, in 1820. Near Congress Village, 
he (Daniel) leased a farm of Henry 
Trauger, on which he lived nine years; 
then purchased a farm on Section 14, 



WAYNE COUXTY 



191 



■where he reared a family of sixteen chil- 
vheu, twelve of whom are yet liviiif^. He 
died iu his sixty-ninth j-ear. The first 
Christmas eve Mr. Holmes was in Wayne 
County his house and its contents were 
destroyed by fire, the family barely es- 
caping with their lives, and the snow was 
six inches deep. Thej- were taken to the 
house of George Poe, a half a mile dis- 
tant, remaining there one night. The 
following Monday the neighbors cut logs 
and built another cabin, and Wednesday 
they moved iu. There was no fioor, and 
a fire was built iu the center of the room. 
There they lived, more like Indians than 
white folks, almost destitute of clothing, 
and for foiir or five years had neither 
shoes nor stockings. Their clothes con- 
sisted of buckskin pants, linen shirt, coon- 
skin caps and deer-skin moccasins. The 
best dressed men of those days wore 
buckskin suits. 

Jacob Holmes, the subject of these 
lines, was educated in the common 
schools, and brought up to farm life, 
which he has followed all his days. He 
was united in marriage February 5, 1837, 
with Miss Christiana, a daughter of David 
and Eva Weaver, and born April 2, 1817. 
This union has been blessed with eight 
children, seven of whom are still living, 
all married and away from home, doing 
for themselves. Mr. and Mrs. Holmes 
have for many years been consistent mem- 



bers of the German Reformed Church. 
For sixty-seven years he has been a con- 
tinuous resident of Congress Township, 
and is probably the oldest resident settler 
in the township. Mr. Holmes is hale and 
hearty, and remarkalily vigorous for one 
of his advanced years, managing his own 
affairs with keen intelligence and remark- 
able success; and "Uncle Jacob," as he 
is familiarly known, is highly respected 
by all who know him. He is owner of 
123 acres of good farm land, three miles 
south of West Salem, in Wayne County. 



W. EICKEL was born in West 
Salem, Wayne Co., Ohio, May 24, 
1838, and is a son of Peter and Nancy 
(Rickel) Rickel, natives of Bedford 
County, Penn., who came to Wayne 
County iu 1824, and entered a tract of 
land iu Congress Township, a part of 
which is now occupied by the village of 
West Salem, which was laid out by him, 
as well as several of its streets ; and manj' 
lots were sold by him. He was a promi- 
nent member of the old Albright Evan- 
gelical Association, and of the Repub- 
lican party. He died in 1865, his widow 
surviving him until 1888. They reared 
nine children, viz. : Sophia, wife of Mi- 
chael Shaffer, of Mahoning County, Ohio; 



192 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Joseph, Michael and Levi, in West Salem, 
AVayue County; Mathias, in Ashland 
County ; Catherine, deceased wife of Peter 
Ball ; G. W. ; William, who was a member 
of Company E, One Hundred and Twenti- 
eth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died 
from the effects of wounds; Alexander, in 
AVest Salem. 

G. AV. Rickel received his education at 
the township schools and Hayesville Acad- 
emy. In I860 he embarked in mer- 
cantile business at West Salem, which he 
continued for about three years. In 1806 
Mr. Rickel married Miss Mary E., daugh- 
ter of Benjamin Hill (deceased), of Ca- 
naan Township, Wayne County, and by 
this union there are four living children, 
viz.: Cora, wife of R. W. Pinkertou, of 
AVooster; Carrie, wife of Rev. A. A. 
Ball, of Chicago Junction, and Annie 
and Josephine, at home. Mr. Rickel 
is a member of the Canaan Grange, 
No. 1280, P. of H. He and family are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Cliurch of Burbank, of which he is a 
trustee. Politically he is a Republican. 

Benjamin Hill (deceased) was born 
in Washington County, Peun., June 29, 
1807, son of Joseph and Margaret (Joy) 
Hill, who immigrated from Ireland. 
Benjamin was reared on a farm, and 
learned the tanner's trade. In 1829 he 
married Miss Delilah, daughter of Jacob 
and Sarah (Harsh) Notestine, of AA'ash- 



ington County, Penn., and in 1833 they 
came to Wayne County, where they moved 
on the farm in Canaan Township, where 
he died in 1880. Mr. Hill was a promi- 
nent member of the Republican party, 
and filled various township offices; was 
also class-leader and exhorter in the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church of Burbank for 
many years. He died in 1880; his widow 
still survives him, now aged seventy-six 
yeai's. Three of their children are still 
living: Sarah H., wife of Henry Hay, of 
Seville. Ohio; Samantha, wife of C. C. 
Clay, of Sedalia, Mo., and Mary E., wife 
of G. W. Rickel. 



ir^ EA^ PHILO M. SEMPLE was born 
l^l' near Darlington, then in Beaver, 
Jj -^ butnow in Lawrence County,Penn., 
July 7, 1810. His grandfather was 
a native of Scotland, and was married in 
America to a lady of Irish birth. Botb 
died in Beaver County, Penn. Their son 
Robert was a native of North Carolina, 
removing to Pennsylvania with his par- 
ents. His boyhood was spent upon the 
farm, and when seventeen years of age 
he entered an academy at Darlington, 
Peun., with a view of qualifying himself 
for ministerial work. Completing his 
academic course, he began the study of 
theology with Rev. Thomas E. Hughes, 





fn^J^ :^1^^^rjf/}nyfJA 



WAYNE COUyTY. 



195 



aud was later liceused to presich by the 
Presbytery of Kedstone. He was soon 
after called to the pastorate of the First 
Presbyterian Church of New Castle, now 
the county seat of Lawrence County, 
Penn., being their first pastor, and con- 
tinuing to serve that church twenty- 
eight years. For twenty years of the 
time he also had charge of a church at 
Slippery Rock, Beaver Co., Penn. Rev. 
Robert Semple was united in marriage 
January 5, 1808, with Miss Annie Kirk- 
patrick, a native of Beaver County, Penn., 
and to them were born three sons and 
seven daughters, of whom two sous and 
one daughter are living — Philo M., Dr. 
Kirkpatrick Johnston, of Cincinnati, Ohio, 
and Zenista, wife of David F. McCready, 
of New Wilmington, Penn. The mother 
died at the age of Mty years, the father 
surviving her several years, his death 
occurring in 1847, at the age of seventy- 
two years. He was a faithful minister of 
the gospel, and died in the sure hope of 
a happy immortality. 

Philo M. Semple is the second son of 
Robert and Annie Semple. His full bap- 
tismal name is Philomathis, and very 
properly, for he has proved himself a 
" seeker after knowledge." He was about 
eighteen mouths old when his father be- 
came pastor at New Castle, Penn., and 
spent his youth on a small farm near that 
city. In his boyhood he has gathered 



hazlenuts on the site of New Castle, now a 
city of 35,000 inhabitants. When twenty- 
one years of age he was given the oppor- 
tunity of attending Bassenheim Academy, 
a manual labor school at Zclienople, But- 
ler Co., Penn., of which he gladly availed 
himself, and here was begun the study of 
Latin. In the spring of 1832 he left 
home for Cannonsburgh, the seat of Jeffer- 
son College, traveling on foot, and making 
the distance, sixty miles, in less than two 
days. Here he spent five years of col- 
lege life. During his first term the col- 
lege was blessed with a revival of relig- 
ion, and he was hopefully converted. 
August 5, 1832, he united with the Pres- 
byterian Church of Cannonsburgh, of 
which Dr. Matthew Brown was then pas- 
tor. His standing in his class was repu- 
table, and in the literary society, high. In 
1837 he would have been the debater for 
the Franklin Society but for the famous 
quarrel of the societies with the trustees, 
which suspended the contest for this year. 
At the time of the commencement, in 
1837, he was prostrated with typhoid 
fever, and was unable to turn his head on 
his pillow when he graduated. During 
the winter of 1837-88 he taught school 
in New Castle, Penn., and in the spring 
of 1838 entered the Western Theological 
Seminary, at Allegheny, where he spent 
two j'ears. His health failing, he re- 
turned home, and after rusticating a few 



196 



WAYNE COUXTY. 



months and partially regaining his health 
he was licensed to preach by the Presby- 
tery o£ Beaver, at the church of Westfield, 
Penn., June 24, 1S40. In compliance 
with the advice of some of the older 
members of the same presbytery, he was 
on the 5th of October, 1841, ordained as 
an evangelist, expecting to go to Illinois, 
then a new State, as a home missionary. 
Circumstances, however, beyond his con- 
trol prevented the carrying out of this 
plan, and in the spring of 1842 he was 
called to the united congregations of Mount 
Eaton, Wayne County, and Berlin, Holmes 
County, Ohio, preaching his first sermon 
at Mount Eaton the first Sabbath in June. 
He labored in this field pleasantly and 
successfully for sixteen years, both 
churches being much increased during 
his pastorate. In the fall of 1858 he 
received an urgent call to the church at 
Dalton, Wayne County, and, in view of 
the existing division in the church, felt it 
his duty to accept the call, and in so doing 
unite the two factions. Both congrega- 
tions he was serving sent a unanimous 
protest to the presbytery against the dis- 
solution of the pastoral relation, but the 
presbytery accorded with his views, and 
on the first Sunday in October, 1858, he 
commenced his labors in Dalton, and was 
installed the following mouth. After serv- 
ing the church in this place nine years, 
liis health became comjiletely broken down, 



so that bv the advice of distinguished 
physicians he gave up preaching, and 
during the summer spent the time in 
traveling in Missouri and Kansas. His 
health not improving, and concluding 
that he would be unable to resume pas- 
toral work, he tendered his resignation, 
but his congregation, being unwilling to 
accept it, granted him a year's leave of 
absence, kindly continuing his salary. At 
the end of the year, his health still being 
infirm, he again tendered his resignation, 
which was reluctantly accepted. 

In November, 1870, he removed to the 
city of Wooster, influenced mainly by the 
desire to educate his son and daughter at 
the university, and here he has since lived. 
For four years he was engaged in collect- 
ing the endowment fund of the university, 
which had been subscribed some years 
before. Although Mr. Semple has for 
many years been unable to have the care 
of a church, he still preaches occasionally. 
When he began studying for the ministry 
he was obliged to rely on his own exer- 
tions to secure his education, and was 
carried through by his strong determina- 
tion to succeed. He has ever taken a 
warm interest in pulilic affairs, and can 
always be found on the side of justice and 
right. For years before the abolishment 
of slavery he was a strong Abolitionist, 
aud on the formation of the Republican 
party he joined its ranks to fight the bat- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



197 



tie of freedom for all, aud uow is equally 
determined in his opposition to the gigan- 
tic evil of drinking intoxicating liquors, 
and is an ardent advocate of the cause of 
prohibition. 

July 29, 1846, Mr. Semple was married 
to Miss Sarah Jane Davis, a native of 
Shippeusburgh, Penn., daughter of Robert 
Davis, Esq., who at the time of her mar- 
riage was a resident of Stark County, 
Ohio. Her parents died in Bucyrus, 
Ohio, the mother aged seventy-four years 
and the father ninety-five 3ears. Mr. 
and Mrs. Semple have reared two chil- 
dren to years of maturity. Their sou, 
Eugene Payson, graduated from Wooster 
University in 1873, and has been for 
several years professor of English in Bid- 
die University, at Charlotte, N. C. Their 
daughter, Laura Annie, graduated from 
Wooster University in 1875, and is now 
the wife of Eev. W. M. Pocock, a Pres- 
byterian minister at Waverly, Kas. A 
zealous pastor, consistent Christian, and a 
faithful counselor aud frieud, Mr. Semple 
is held in esteem by all who know him. 



DAM BRENNER. The Brenner 
family is one of the most numerous 
in Wayne Township, Wayne Coun- 
ty. At a very early day in the his- 
tory of America three brothers by the 




name of Brenner immigrated to the Unit- 
ed States from Germany. John Adam 
Brenner, who was born in Lancaster 
County, Penn., was a descendant of one 
of these brothers. He was a farmer in 
his native county, aud was twice married, 
John being the name of the eldest child 
born to the first marriage. John Bren- 
ner was born in 1799, aud in 1849, with 
his wife aud eight children, he moved to 
Wayne County, Ohio, and settled on a 
small farm. He married Susan Redfind, 
who died in 1870, aged seventy-seven 
years. Five of their eight children are 
living: Margaret (Mrs. Hartz), Susan 
(Mrs. Brown), Mary (Mrs. Ihman), 
Adam and Catherine (Mrs. Hartzell). 

Adam Brenner was the youngest son 
and next to the youngest child of the 
family. He was born in Lancaster Coun- 
ty, Penn., in 1830, and was nearlj' twen- 
ty yeai-s old when he accompanied his 
parents to Wayne County. The first win- 
ter he worked in Wooster, and then fol- 
lowed his trade of shoemaking in Smith- 
ville for three years, and after that en- 
gaged in farming. Since 1885 Mr. Bren- 
ner has lived on his present farm, which 
was formerly owned by his father-in-law, 
Peter Eberly. He is now well-to-do in 
a financial sense, and has an enviable 
reputation for honesty aud integrity in 
the community where he lives. Mr. Bren- 
ner was married in 1851 to Miss Cath- 



198 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



erine Eberly, who, as already stated, is 
a daughter of Peter Eberly, of Wayne 
Township. They have had three children: 
John E., born May 28, 1852; Sarah E., 
January 13, 1856, and Alvin, March 5, 
1859. Mr. Brenner is a Republican. 




, JLLIAM CARMAN DAGUE was 

born in Wadsworth Township, 
Medina Co., Ohio, February 21, 
1850, and is a sou of Michael D. and 
Elizabeth (McElhenie) Dague. His pa- 
ternal grandfatlier was Gabriel Dague, 
son of Michael Dague, a native of Ger- 
many, and a pioneer of Washington 
County, Peun. Gabriel Dague, who was 
a native of Washington County, Penn., 
in early life taught school, and settled in 
Milton Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
in 1820. Here he cleared and improved 
a farm, on which he resided until 1843, 
when he moved to Chippewa Township, 
Wayne County, and in 1849 located in 
Wadsworth, where he died. He had two 
brothers, also pioneers of Milton Town- 
ship, viz. : Frederick, who settled there 
in 1819, and Michael, who settled a few 
years later. The last named in his day 
held the office of justice of the peace the 
longest term of anyone in the State. 
The children of Gabriel Dague were nine 



in number, as follows: Archibald, Mi- 
chael, Joseph, Elizabeth (Mrs. Joseph 
Starn), Gabriel, Andrew Hiram, Ephraim, 
Samuel and Cyrus. The latter died in the 
service of the United States, at Vicks- 
burg. Miss., during the War of the Re- 
bellion. The maternal grandfather of 
William Carman Dague was Thomas J. 
McElhenie, a pioneer of Chippewa Town- 
ship, Wayne County. 

Michael D. Dague, father of William 
C, was reared in Wayne County, Ohio, 
and in early life was a farmer in Wayne. 
Summit and Medina Counties, all in Ohio, 
and for fifteen years was proprietor of a 
general store at Western Star, Medina 
County. He removed to Doylestown, 
Chippewa Township, Wayne Co., in 1878, 
and has here since resided. He reared a 
family of six children, viz. : Gabriel, a 
merchant in Western Star, Medina 
County; Thomas J., a Presbyterian cler- 
gyman in Caldwell, Ohio; Rebecca J. 
(Mrs. Theo. Eberhardt), in Western Star; 
William C, James AV. and Joseph M., 
in Doylestown, Wayne County. 

The subject of this biographical memoir 
received an academic education at West- 
ern Star, and in 1873 embarked in mer- 
cantile trade in that place. In 1874 he 
located in Doylestown, where the firm of 
Dague Bros. <fe Co. was established, the 
largest house dealing in genei'al merchan- 
dise in Wayne County, William C. Dague 



WAYNE COUXrY. 



iy9 



being the senior memlier. Mr. Dague 
married, March 30, 1871, Melissa, daugh- 
ter of Samuel and Martha (Hoover) Du- 
ley. of Western Star, Ohio, and to this 
union have been born four children, viz.: 
Harry, Metta, Nellie and Bessie. Mr. 
Dague is one of Doylestown's most promi- 
nent citizens and merchants, and is enter- 
prising and public-spirited. He is a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian Church, of the 
Odd Fellows order and Royal Arcanum. 
In politics he is a Democrat. He served 
for nine jears as a member of the Board 
of Education of Doylestown, and is at 
present sei'ving his second term as town- 
ship treasurer. 



LK. FRANKS, deputy county treas- 
urer of Wayne County, is a native 

'' of the county, born in Chippewa 

Township, November 29, 1854. His 
father, Abram Franks, was a native of 
Fayette County, Penn., where he grew to 
manhood, and at the age of twenty-eight he 
migrated to Wayne County, where in 1848 
he was married to Amanda Franks, daugh- 
ter of Abram Franks, Sr., a second cousin. 
His education had been that of the common 
schools, and for a time he occupied him- 
self in teaching, and then engaged in 
mercantile business at New Geneva, in 



his native count}-. On coming to this 
County he opened a store in Doylestown, 
but later was engaged in wholesale busi- 
ness in the city of New York. In 1848, 
soon after his marriage, he was elected to 
the State Legislature by the Democrats, 
and re-elected, serving two terms with 
credit to himself and the satisfaction of 
his constituents. 

On leaving the Legislature Mr. Abram 
Franks established himself for ten years 
on a farm which he had bought. In 1861 
he removed to the village of Doylestown, 
and was there engaged in mercantile busi- 
ness for some sixteen or seventeen years, 
at the end of which time he retired from 
active business life. December 3, 1877, 
Mrs. Franks was called to her rest, at the 
age of fifty-eight years. Two children 
were the result of her union with Mr. 
Franks: Jennie, wife of Rev. J. W. Low, 
of Richland County, Ohio, and L. K. The 
elder Franks is one of the early settlers 
in Wayne County, and aside from his leg- 
islative honors has been one of the prom- 
inent citizens of the county, and was for 
many years justice of the peace here. 
He was an able and intelligent man, and 
wrote much for the papers, but his lack of 
power to express his ideas orally has been 
soiuewhat of a bar to his public advance- 
ment. Now, at tiie advanced age of eighty- 
two years, he retains his mental vigor un- 
abated, although his physical powers are 



wauiiig. His home is now with his sou. 
As au old settler, and a man who has done 
his full share in advancing the prosperity 
of the county, he is much respected by 
his fellow-citizens. 

L. K. Franks, the subject of this 
sketch, obtained most of his education in 
the public scliools of the village of Doyles- 
town. He was early inducted in mercan- 
tile business, and for three years was 
junior partner in the firm of Charles 
McCormiek & Co., in Doylestown. August 
1, 1883, he was united in marriage with 
Miss Linda V. Wharton, daughter of 
James and Nancy (Williams) Wharton. 
Politically Mr. Franks has always affili- 
ated with the Democratic party, and has 
been prominent in public affairs. He has 
been township clerk, and also township 
treasurer, resigning the latter office to 
accept his present position. He and his 
wife are both members of the Presbyte- 
rian Church at Doylestown, and he is a 
member of the Odd Fellows order and of 
the Knights of Pythias. He has the con- 
fidence and esteem of all who know him, 
as an upright man and faithful official. 

The Franks family are of mixed Ger- 
man and French blood, and their ancestors 
cnme to this country long prior to the War 
of the Eevolution. Michael Franks, the 
grandfather of L. K., died in Pennsyl- 
vania, and was the father of sixteen chil- 
dren. His maternal grandfather, Henrj- 



Franks, took part in the War of 1812, and 
was captured by the Indians at Sandusky, 
Ohio, and compelled to run the gauntlet, 
but fortunately escaped. 



EORGE D. HATFIELD is a son 
of one of the original pioneers of 
Wayne County, and is also one of 

its oldest born native citizens, havingf 
first seen the light of day in Salt Creek 
Township, May 22, 1817. His parents, 
Robert and Nancy (Richey) Hatfield, 
were natives of Pennsylvania, and were 
married in Beaver County, that State. In 
1815 they migrated to AVayne County, 
locating in Edinburgh, in East Union 
Township, but the following year 2)ur- 
chased the farm in Salt Creek Township 
on which the subject of this sketch was 
born. Here they spent the remainder of 
their lives, the father dying in June, 18-41, 
aged fifty-four years. His widow sur- 
vived him many years, dying October 19, 
1865, in her eightieth year. They were 
the parents of eight children who grew to 
maturity (of them four still survive). 
The eldest, Margaret, is wife of Thomas 
Dunham, of Salt Creek Township; Will- 
iam died in 1865, in his sixty-third year; 
Adam died in the fifty-fourth year of his 
age; Catherine is now Mrs. W. Cunning- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



201 



ham, of Wooster, Ohio; George D. ; Mary, 
who was the wife of Mr. Jolnisou, of Salt 
Creek Township, and is now deceased; 
Sarah, who is Mrs. James Truesdell, of 
Nevada, Mo., and Cyrus, who died in Salt 
Creek at the age of twenty-six. Both the 
parents were members of the Presbyterian 
Church, and Mr. Hatfield was one of the 
first elders of the church in Salt Creek 
Township. This worthy coui)le were real 
pioneers of Wayne County, which at the 
time of their coming to it was covered 
with a dense growth of timber. In the 
woods tJiey made their first humble home, 
cheerfully enduring the hardships of a 
pioneer life, and were rewarded by seeing 
their home gradually growing in beauty 
and value, and a sturdy family springing 
up around them. Mr. Hatfield was an 
active and industrious man, in his polit- 
ical sentiments was a Whig, and took an 
active part in public affairs. He was well 
known and much respected by the old 
residents of the county. 

George D. Hatfield received his ed- 
ucation in the typical log school-house of 
the period, with its puncheon fioor, slab 
seats, and greased paper windows. At the 
age of twenty-three he was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Matilda R. Patterson, a 
daughter of William and Rebecca (Finley) 
Patterson, natives, respectively, of Fay- 
ette and Westmoreland Counties, Penn., 
and who were among the early pioneers 



of Wayne County, having settled in Frank- 
lin Township in 1816. In 1852 her father 
passed from earth; her mother survived 
him many years, dying in 1888, in her 
ninety-third year. Mrs. Hatfield had two 
sisters and one brother: Margaret is the 
widow of Jacob Reaser, of Wooster; Re- 
becca (Mrs. Willetts), of Fredericktown, 
Knox Co., Ohio, and James P. Patter- 
sou, of Ap{)le Creek. To our subject and 
his estimable wife have been born seven 
children, of whom we record the follow- 
ing: Margaret is deceased; St. Clair J. 
is an attorney in Sidney, Shelby Co., 
Ohio; James is deceased; Robert is a 
farmer in Wayne Township, this county; 
William is a resident of Chicago; Rebecca 
A. and Sarah Adelaide are living at home. 
In 1878 Mrs. Hatfield died, at the age of 
fifty-nine years. She was a woman of 
most estimable character, and a consistent 
member of the Presbyterian Church of 
Apple Creek. 

In the fall of 1870 Mr. Hatfield re- 
moved from his farm to the city of ^\ oos- 
ter to give his children the opportunity of 
better educational advantages, but his life, 
once settling there, has been a busy one. 
For a number of years he was engaged in 
collecting money for the University of 
Wooster. In his early life he was a Whig, 
and cast his first i)residcntal vote for Gen. 
William H. Harrison. On the formation 
of the Republican party he joined its 



202 



WAYNE cor XT Y. 



rauks, aud lias ever since acted witb it, 
faithfully doing his duty as a citizen at 
the polls, having voted at every election 
since reaching his majority, and he takes 
an active interest in all public matters. 
He contributed his share to the cause of 
the nation during the Rebellion, and was 
a member of the Union League. When 
a boy he became a member of the Presby- 
terian Chiarch, and has always remained 
an active member of that denomination. 
He is now connected with the First Pres- 
byterian Church of Wooster. 

Mr. Hatfield is wonderfully well pre- 
served for a man of his age, and he at- 
tributes his good health to his uniform 
habits of temperance, he never having 
used tobacco or intoxicating liquor, al- 
though in his youth the use of spirits was 
almost universal. He is spoken of in 
terms of respect by all who know him, 
aud will long be remembered as one of 
Wayne County's most worthy pioneers. 



ELI DUDLEY POCOCK, M. D., 
was born near Shreve, Wayne Co., 

Ohio, June 13, 1845. He is a 

son of Elijah Pocock, who migrated from 
Harford County, Md., in 1820, and set- 
tled in Wayne County, Ohio. His mother's 
maiden name was Grace Smith ; she emi- 



grated from Beaver County, Penn., in 
1822, and settled in Wayne County, 
where, September 1, 1825, she was united 
in marriage with Elijah Pocock. Eli's 
earlier years were spent in the vicinity of 
Shreve, where he received an academic 
education. At his country's call, dur- 
ing the great war for the Union, he re- 
sponded, and spent the last years of the 
same in its service. He enlisted in 
June, 1862, at the age of seventeen years, 
in the Eighty-sixth Ohio Volunteer In- 
fantry, and served his full time, after 
which his name appeal's for two years on 
the rolls of the One Hundred aud Sixty- 
sixth and One Hundred and Eighty- 
sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Since 
the war he has been identified with the 
movements of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, and in the same has ever been 
an ardent and zealous worker, while his 
force of character has made him a leader 
among his comrades. 

In 1866 he began the study of medi- 
cine, and graduated from Bellevue Hos- 
pital Medical College, New York, in Feb- 
ruary, 1870. He began the practice of 
his profession the same year, in the city 
of Mansfield, and in 1873 removed to 
Shreve, where ever since he has main- 
tained a successful aud lucrative practice. 
In recognition of his ability he maintains 
the highest respect of his competitors and 
of the medical fraternitv at Iju-ije. Soon 



after his majority be became an honored 
member of the Masonic fraternity, and 
has advanced to and received the Templar 
orders. He is ever considered a zealous 
and well-qualified worker, and in recogni- 
tion thereof has filled many important 
positions in the different branches of the 
order through which he has passed. Zeal 
in this, his chosen fraternity, has made 
him one of its brightest lights, and he 
takes his place among its leaders. 

On October 18, 1870, the autumn after 
his graduation in medicine, he was mar- 
ried to Miss Loell B. Foltz, daughter of 
David Foltz by a marriage with Miss 
Susan Kimmerer, who had migrated, re- 
spectively, from Pennsylvania and Vir- 
ginia in 1813 and in 1816 to Wayne Coun- 
ty. Ohio, and settled in Clinton Township. 
Both were of German descent. The fruit 
of this marriage is one son, Elijah Foltz 
Pocock, born September 7, 1878. 



rpV ANIEL FUNCK. •• Man is peren- 
II I nially interesting to man." Emi- 

^ nently a man of affairs, his life has 

been engaged in pursuits wherein success 
depends upon the matured judgment and 
practical conception that come from ex- 
perience, observation, reading and reflec- 
tion. Upon these pursuits he entered, 



not with the impulsive or capricious 
flight of genius, but under the firm and 
steady propulsions of sound, practical 
common sense. He is a native of Wayne 
County, one of her healthiest products, 
and a type of her most vigorous creations. 
His father, John Funck, was born in 
Westmoreland County, Penn., January 
30, 1788, and was of German extraction, 
as was his wife, Maria, daughter of 
Christian Fox, with whom he was joined 
in marriage January 3, 1811. She, also, 
was a native of the Keystone State, and 
was born November 13, 1787. The re- 
sult of this imion was thirteen children, 
all, save two, of whom are living. The 
register of births is here introduced: 
David, born November 8, 1811; Aunie, 
January 2, 1813; Catherine, October 26, 
1814; Maria, December 21, 1810: Henry, 
January 10, 1818; Samuel, June 19, 
1819; Martin, November 13, 1820; Bar- 
bara, October 16, 1823; John, December 

22, 1825; Magdalena, January 17, 1828; 
Daniel, July 27, 1829; Jacob, November 

23, 1831; Elizabeth, August 29, 1831. 
In 1853 Aunie and Magdalena passed 
through nature to eternity, stricken down 
by the " Reaper whose name is Death." 

In 1824 Mr. John Funck removed with 
his family, then consisting of his wife 
and eight children, to Wayne County, 
and what, at that time, was familiarly 
known as the far West, purchasing a farm 



204 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



iu Chester Township, where he resided 
for a quarter of a century, and where 
five more chiklreu were added to the issue 
of his mai-riage. A farmer by occupa- 
tion, as was his father in Pennsylvania, 
he entered upon agriculture as a pleasant 
and profitable vocation. But being a 
man of warm, i-eligious feeling, and pos- 
sessed of a highly spiritual nature, and, 
withal, equipped with the requisite edu- 
cation, he became a teacher and minister 
in the Mennonite Church, and in con- 
junction with his labors on the farm he 
proclaimed from the pulpit the plain and 
practical piety of its illustrious founder. 
This was in his earlier years, as subse- 
quently he identified himself in active 
membership with the Church of God, and 
for fifty years consecrated himself to its 
ministry. As was characteristic of all 
of the early settlers, Mr. Funck and 
his family encountered many hardships, 
made sacrifices and endured embarrass- 
ing privations. In process of time, how- 
ever, these obstacles were subdued, and a 
better and more prosperous condition of 
society appeared, accelerated, in a large 
measure, by their own active, patient and 
persevering efforts. In 1849 Mx-. Funck, 
then having attained three score years, 
abandoned the farm and removed to 
Wooster, where he remained, with the 
exception of about one year, until his 
death, which occurred April 2, lStV2. 



His wife survived him nearly a score of 
years, dying February 22, 1879, in her 
ninety-second year, at the home of her 
son, Daniel, with whom she had lived 
fi'om the death of her husband, and who 
suri-ounded her with every comfort and 
bestowed upon her the tender care of a 
thoughtful and dutiful son. 

Daniel Funck first opened his eyes 
upon the lights and shadows of this world 
July 27, 1829, in a primitive log cabin on 
his father's farm, iu Chester Township. 
Here his earlier years were spent, and 
until he attained the age of twenty, in 
felling timber, hewing and chopping, 
grubbing and splitting rails, plowing and 
sowing, flailing buckwheat and husking 
corn, attending apple cuttings and rush- 
ing the rustic belles, and was happy as a 
bee upon the clover blossoms. The op- 
portunities for education at the rustic 
schools of that period were not so attract- 
ive and valuable then as now, but, such 
as they were, it was the privilege of Mr. 
Funck to avail himself of their advan- 
tages. He attended the old log school- 
house of primordial construction, with 
puncheon floor, greased paper windows, 
sitting on a rude bench with a slab pinned 
or spiked to the wall for a writing desk, 
and imbibed the waters of knowledge 
from the " master," who was frequently a 
" down east Yankee," and who could not 
only quote but set to music the multijili- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



205 



cation table. His educational advantages 
were necessarily limited, and facilities for 
any achievements in tbe higher branches 
of study were extremely meager and few. 
He, however, received a fair common- 
school education, much of it having been 
acquired by the light of the candle or 
hearth, after the day's labor had been 
completed. No college opportunities were 
opened to him, nor a chance to study the 
languages or the higher branches of En- 
glish education. His energy, close ap- 
plication, force of character and per- 
sistent industry have assisted largely in 
neutralizing these disadvantages. At 
the age of twenty he determined to step 
out and meet the current of the world 
for himself and shape the venture to his 
purpose and ambition. He concluded to 
learn a trade, which, to a young man, is 
supposed to be the equivalent of a cash 
capital of §1,000. In 1849 he went to 
Asiiland, Ohio, as an apprentice in a car- 
riage manufactory, where he remained 
until 1851. He then traveled as a journey- 
man carriage maker in the Eastern States, 
returning home again in 1853, when he 
was seized with a quenchless thirst for 
California gold. The wand of the yellow 
enchanter was upon him, and the spell 
could not be broken. A steamer soon 
landed him on the Pacific slope, where he 
remained for five years. He located at 
Springfield, Tuolumne County, operating 



his trade as manufacturer, and engaging 
in mining enterprise;;. Here he had to 
confront the catastrophe of fire, as his 
! entire investments in stock and property 
were consumed by conflagration. But lie 
was not of the metal to be daunted by tlie 
fire-fiend, or crushed by the devastations of 
calamity. He at once addressed himself 
to the work of rebuilding, and this ac- 
complished, he sold out and went to San 
Francisco, where for a year he was en- 
gaged in various projects, chiefly of a 
mining character. In 1859 he returned 
to Wayne County and " the scenes of his 
childhood," and for a period was employed 
in book-keeping, meantime completing a 
course of training at a commercial col- 
lege. He soon thereafter purchased a 
carriage manufactory in Wooster, and for 
a series of years conducted that business, 
but in 1866 the demon of fire, which in its 
cruel jaws had crushed his substance in 
the Golden State, revisited him and swept 
away his investments. Twice did ill 
fortune lay her apparently revengeful 
finger upon him, and twice did he sound 
his bugle in renewal of the conflict, for 
he knew the race was not always to the 
swift, nor the battle to the strong, and he 
again fought for success over the unmac- 
adamized thoroughfare of perseverance 
and industry. And he has achieved it. 

In politics Mr. Funck was originally 
a Whig, but identified himself with the 



•206 



WAVNE COUXTV. 



Republican party in 1860, casting his bal- 
lot for Abraham Lincoln, who, while he 
was city marshal, appointed him United 
States marshal under Earl Bill, he having 
jurisdiction over the northern district of 
Ohio. When Johnson succeeded to the 
control of the Government, Mr. Bill was 
removed, and consequently the official ax 
fell upon his neck. He had no compro- 
mises to make with official renegades, and 
maintained his allegiance to his party and 
its principles. July 29, 1863, Mr. Funck 
joined, as private. Company D, Fifty-sec- 
ond Regiment, Battalion of Ohio National 
Guards, under Capt. Hughes, in which he 
served honestly and faithfully until May 
1, 1866, when, by virtue of an act of Gen- 
eral Assembly passed April 2, 1866, he 
was "honorably discharged from the mili- 
tary service of Ohio and the United States, 
except in case of insurrection or inva- 
sion. By order of Gov. Jacob D. Cox ; B. 
R. Cowan, adjutant-general of Ohio." 

He afterward, for about a year, clerked 
in the hardware store of the late R. R. 
Donnelly, and then, in 1868, set sail on 
the broad, safe sea of insurance, to which 
he has ever since closely and assiduously 
applied his energies and talent. He rep- 
sents a dozen of the leading and reliable 
five and life companies, and has the agencj' 
for the Mutual Life of New York, the old- 
est company in the United States, and the 
largest in the world, its assets aggregating 



$126,000,000. He is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, belonging to the Blue 
Lodge and the Chapter; is active in the 
circles of the Knights of Honor, and is a 
charter member of the Grand Lodge of 
the Royal Ai-canum of Ohio (and which 
he aided in establishing in Wooster), and 
was one of its first grand trustees. He 
was chosen as first president of the Woos- 
ter Co-operative Foundry Association, and 
two years thereafter re-elected, which po- 
sition he still holds. He is a member of 
! the Wayne County Pioneer Association, 
and one of its active, inflexible fi'iends. 

He was married, in 1859, to Miss 
Matilda, daughter of William and Susan 
Imhoff, of Ashland County, who emigrated 
from Pennsylvania to Ohio in pioneer 
days. The result of this union was six 
children: Ross W., Alice M., Earl B., 
Frank, Harriet Lucretia and Chloe De- 
vona. Earl B. and Frank are numbered 
with the dead; Harriet L. is in the uni- 
versity, class of 1891, and Chloe D. in the 
high school, class of 1890; Alice M. grad- 
uated at the university, class of 1887, and 
is the wife of Orin C. Baker, editor of the 
Home Weekly, published at the Ohio Sol- 
diers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home. Xenia, 
Ohio, and Ross W. is a member of the 
Wooster bar. He was born January 11, 
1861, and graduated at the high school 
and university, at the latter, in the class 
of 1883. He studied law with Hon. John 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



20-i 



McSweeny, and then went to the law col- 
lege at Cincinnati, entering the senior 
class and graduating therefrom. He was 
elected city solicitor in the spring of 1887, 
a ])osition which he now holds; is presi- 
dent of the Wooster High School Alumni 
Association ; vice-president of the Univer- 
sity Alumui Association; secretary of the 
Wayne County Republican Executive 
Committee; regent of the Royal Arcanum, 
and a Chapter Mason. He is a young 
man of fine education and abilities, excel- 
lent character and the strictest honesty. 
Mr. Daniel Funck, the subject of this 
sketch, is in the prime of life, in good 
health, vigorous in action, and has many 
years of usefulness and activity befoi'e 
him. His temperament is of the sanguine, 
vital order; his nature is buoyant and 
joyful, and life to him is a boon indeed, 
for he appreciates its privileges and pleas- 
ures. He is full of jest and humor, en- 
joys a good story as well as a breakfast, 
and will never grow old if he can wheedle 
Old Time with a California anecdote. He 
is singularly fortunate in his domestic re- 
lations, and has reared a family reflecting 
tine accomplishments and culture. That 
he is a champion of education is demon- 
strated by the manner in whicli he has 
directed and controlled the intellectual 
necessities of his children. He is public- 
spirited and enterprising, and readily en- 
dorses any project calculated to stimulate 



the development and prosperity of his 
city and county. He is generous and 
aifable, his sympathies expressing them- 
selves in kindness to friends and charities, 
where they are merited. It may be said 
of him, in all the relations of life in which 
he is summoned to act, that he is trust- 
worthy, constant and honest, with well- 
settled habits of industry and application. 
His wife is a member of the English 
Lutheran Church, \>diikL_ather members- 
of his family are Presbyteriabe. Mr. 
Funck is an attendant upon church serv- 
ice, though not a member of any eccle- 
siastical organization. He believes that 
religion is a matter of conscience, and 
therefore should not be interfered with,, 
as he believes that politics is a matter of 
principle, in which men honestly diffei-. 



f WILSON DAGUE was born in 
A^ I Norton Township, Summit Co., 
^^ Ohio, June 29, 1854, and is a sou 
of Michael D. and Elizabeth (McEl- 
henie) Dague. He was reai'etl in his 
native township and educated in the com- 
mon schools and Western Star Academy 
(Ohio). In 1874 he located in Doyles- 
town, Cliippewa Township, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, and entered the employ of Dague 
Bros. & Co. as clerk, serving in that 



208 



WAYNE COUXTY. 



capacity until 1S7S. wbeu lie was ad- 
mitted as a partner into the above-named 
firm, in which he still continues. May 
10, 1876, he married Lucretia, daughter 
of William and Mary A. (Frederick) 
Turner, of Doylestowu, Ohio, and by her 
he has two children: Mattie M. and 
William M. 

William Turner, the father of Mrs. 
Dague, was born of Pennsylvania stock, 
January 23, 182".', and was a resident of 
Wayne County, Ohio, as early as 18-10. 
He learned the carriage maker's trade at 
Doylestown, where he carried on business 
for several years. On account of ill 
health he spent three years in California, 
and on his return engaged in the coal 
business in Doylestown. In 1859 he 
commenced farming, which he continued 
until his death, which occurred in Septem- 
ber, 1869. He had six children, of whom 
four are yet living, viz.: Matthew E., 
William H., Lucretia I Mrs. J. W. Dague) 
and Elias G. The maternal grandpar- 
ents of Mrs. Dagu? were Thomas and 
Elizabeth (Shawk) Frederick, natives of 
Pennsylvania, who were the sixth family 
to settle in Chippewa Township, Wayne 
County. They located in 18 li on Sec- 
tion 10, one-half of which Mr. Frederick 
purchased from the Government, and of 
which he cleared 200 acres, planting the 
first orchard in the township. He reared 
a family of fourteen children, named as 



follows: Jacob, Harriet (Mrs. John 
Brouse), Margaret (Mrs. Isaac Middle- 
ton), Sophia (Mrs. Charles Wall), Rea- 
son, Dolly (Mrs. Samuel Galehouse), 
Rachel (Mrs. Samuel Young), Matthew 
E., William, Henry, Catherine A. (Mrs. 
William Basinger), Sarah A. (Mrs. Jo- 
seph Watts), Elizabeth (Mrs. William 
Johnson) and Mary A. (Mrs. William 
Turner). Mr. and Mi"s. Frederick lived to 
see all their children married, and all 
the latter lived to attend the funeral of 
their mother, whose death was the first to 
occur in the family. 

Mr. Dague, whose name heads this 
sketch, is a leading citizen of Doylestown, 
and an enterprising business man. He 
has been a member of the Presbyterian 
Chiirch since fifteen years of age; in 
politics he is a Democrat. 



f^ rON. ADDISON S. McCLURE, at- 
rp-|| torney at law. was born at Woos- 
Jj ^ ter, Ohio, October 10, 1839. His 
paternal grandparents, Matthew and 
Margaret (Brandon) McClure, natives of 
Pennsylvania, came with their family to 
Ohio in 1823, locating in Wooster, where 
he (Matthew) embarked in the hardware 
business, being a tinner by trade. They 
had a large family of children, all born 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



2oy 



in Pennsylvania. Their eltlest, Charles 
McClure, who was a boy when his parents 
moved to Ohio, married Lncetta Rogers, 
and to them were born three sons, Addi- 
son S. being the only one now living; 
William H. was a soldier in the War of 
the Rebellion, a member of Company E, 
Fourth Ohio, and was shot through both 
legs at Chanceliorsville (he never fully 
recovered, and died from the effects of his 
wounds in 1886) ; Matthew, tlie second 
son. died in 1877. 

Addison S. McClure was from child- 
hood an apt scholar, and in 1853 was 
ready for college, entering the junior pre- 
paratory year at Jefferson College, from 
which he graduated in 1859. In college 
he was studious, standing at the head of 
bis classes, and distinguishing himself 
for his proficiency in some branches. 
After leaving school he went South, where 
he taught one year; then began the study 
of his chosen profession, his preceptors 
beinir Hon. Levi Cox and Judge Martin 
Welker. He was admitted to the bar in 
March, 1861, and a few weeks later, in 
April, enlisted, at the call of President 
Lincoln for men to suppress the Rebellion, 
as a private in Company E, Fourth Ohio 
Infantry, becoming afterward sergeant- 
major of the regiment. In June, 1861, 
he re-enlisted in the same company and 
regiment for three years, or during the 
war, and in October following was trans- 



ferred to tlie Sixteenth Ohio, and promot- 
ed to ca])taiu of Company H, serving with 
this regiment until his discharge, in 
August, 1864. He participated in the 
Vicksburg campaign under Gen. Grant, 
and in Texas and the Red River cam- 
paigns under Gen. Banks. He was capt- 
ured near Yicksburg December 29, 1862, 
and was held a prisoner until May, 1863, 
in the prisons at Vicksburg, Jackson, 
and Libby, at Richmond. After his dis- 
charge he returned home and resumed 
the practice of law. He was appointed 
postmaster at Wooster in May, 1867, and 
held the office twelve successive years. 
He was a delegate to the National Rejjub- 
lican Convention held at Chicago in 1868, 
when U. S. Grant was nominated for the 
presidency; and again, in 1876, to the con- 
vention at Cincinnati, when R. B. Hayes 
received the nomination. He has been a 
member of the Republican State Commit- 
tee at different times, and for several 
years has been chairman of the Repub- 
lican Central Committee of Wayne Coun- 
ty. He was elected to Congress in 1880, 
by the Eighteenth Congressional District, 
composed of Lorain, Medina, Summit and 
Wayne Counties, and was nnaninunisly 
renominated, in 1882. by the Twentieth 
District, but lost the election by 110 
votes. Since his return from Congress, 
in 1883, he has been actively engaged in 
the practice of his profession. His coun- 



210 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



I 
sels are always the result of careful delib- 
eratiou, his client feeling that his cause 
is just when it is advocated by Mr. Mc- 
Clure. His pleas are terse and to the 
point, and are devoid of mucli that so 
often is heard in the court-room. A gen- 
tleman of the highest type, he never for- 
gets to be a gentleman, and always wins 
the respect of judge and jury. Wayne 
County bar is honored by having so dis- 
tinguished a member as A. S. McClure. 

Capt. MeClure was married September 
26, 1866, to Miss Mary L. Brigham, a 
native of Monroe County, Mich., born Feb- 
ruary 13, 1841, a daughter of Eldridge 
G. and Mary L. (Mitchell) Brigham. 
Mr. Brigham located in Monroe, Mich., 
in 1832, where he was a manufacturer of 
and dealer in furniture. He was one of 
the most prominent citizens of the place, 
and held various official positions, among 
others those of supervisor, alderman, 
treasurer and mayor. Mr. and Mrs. Mc- 
Clure have one sou, Walter C, who was 
born in August, 1880. They are descend- 
ants of old Puritan families, their ances- 
tors being members of the Presbyterian 
Church, and in the doctrines of tiiis 
church they were educated, Mrs. McClure 
being a member of same. They have a 
beautiful hom(> on Beall Avenue, where 
hospitality reigns supreme, and they are 
never so happy as when ministering to 
the comfort and enjoyment of their 



friends. Capt. McClure is never wearied! 
in telling, or in listening to his comrades 
tell, of the trials and privations of their 
army life. He is thoroughly patriotic, a 
true American citizen, and is an active- 
member of Given Post No. 155, G. A. R. 



DR. JOE H. TODD. Among the 
successful specialists of Wayne 
— ' County ranks high the physician 
whose name heads this biographical me- 
moir, and who is a native of the county. 
His paternal great-grandfather, who was 
of high Irish blood, and married to a 
Welsh woman, came with his son James, 
(grandfather of our subject) to America, 
and located at Baltimore, Md., where he 
followed boating. He also ran a coasting 
vessel, sailing as far south as the West 
Indies, his son being engaged with him 
until, overtaken by misfortune, they lost 
their all. The son was then appointed by 
the Government to a squireship, which 
liontinued for life. The maternal grand- 
parents of Dr. Todd came from Holland 
about the year 1780, settling near Phila- 
delphia. The parents were both natives 
of York County, Penn., and came to 
Wayne County, Ohio, in 1828, then un- 
married and strangers, but " met by 
chance, the usual way," and were herft 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



213 



marrietl. The father, James Todd, was 
for forty years a drover, aud purchased 
horses for the Philadelphia market. 

The subject of this biographical memoir 
attended the academy at Hayesville, aud 
later the one at Fredericksburgh, Ohio, aud 
commenced the study of medicine in 1861, 
finishing in 1865. He was a student of 
the celebrated Frank H. Hamilton aud 
Stephen Smith, and graduated in March, 
1865, from Bellevue Hospital Medical 
College, New York. Locating at Shreve, 
Wayne Co., Ohio, the Doctor here first 
began the practice of his chosen profes- 
sion, remaining in the town some twelve 
years; then moved to a farm which it was 
his intention to superintend, but, changing 
his mind, he came to Wooster in 1876, 
and purchased a home on West Liberty 
Street, where he now resides. While on 
the farm he visited, in 1870, New York, 
where he was assistant (1870-71) in the 
j)hysiological laboratory of Austin Flint, 
Jr. The Doctor's practice was at first a 
general one, but having made a special 
study of surgery, he has gradually almost 
exclusively confined himself to that 
branch of the profession and chronic 
diseases, where exactness in diagnosis is 
required, which keeps him and an able 
assistant fully occupied. His chief art in 
the science of surgery lies in the success- 
ful treatment of deformities; and in this 
specialty his skill is known tliroughout 

12 



Wayne and adjoining counties, many pa- 
tients coming considerable distances to 
consult him. The Doctor paid a great 
deal of attention to the study of micro- 
scopy, which at present is one of the 
branches to which he gives much atten- 
tion; aud differential diagnosis is one of 
his greatest delights, receiving at his 
hands a large portion of his time. 

In 1872 Dr. Todd married Ophelia, 
daughter of James Campbell, and a native 
of Pennsylvania, of Scotch extraction, a 
scion of the celebrated Campbell family, 
one of whom, the Marquis of Lome, is 
married to a daughter of Queen Victoria. 
Our subject and wife have one son, James 
Campbell Todd, born March 17, 1874. 
The Doctor aud his estimable wife attend 
the services of the Methodist Church; in 
politics he is a Republican. 



DAVID NICE. This well-known and 
prosperous merchant of Wooster 

was born in Medina County, Ohio, 

July 26, 1854. His father, Aaron K. 
Nice, was a native of Pennsylvania, and 
when a young man removed to Ohio, 
where he married Sarah Lesher. The 
mother passed from earth in 1871, aud in 
1877 the father followed her to the grave. 
David Nice is a self-made man. He 



214 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



first worked at farming, and afterward for 
two years was employed as newsboy on 
the Baltimore <& Ohio Railroad. In 1873 
he came to Wooster to learn the trade of 
book-binder, at which he worked for seven 
or eight years, and then turned his atten- 
tion to mercantile pursuits, for which he 
has shown himself eminently qualified, 
and in which he has been very successful. 
After giving up book-binding, he em- 
barked in the hat and cap business, to 
which he afterward added gents' furnish- 
ing goods, and has built up a fine trade, 
which is steadily increasing in magnitude. 
In 1886 he moved to his present quarters, 
adding boots and shoes to his already 
large stock. He keeps a full line of these 
goods, and of the kindred articles usually 
found in first-class stores of the kind, do- 
ing the largest business in the county in 
this line, and much greater than is to be 
found in many larger cities than Wooster. 
He keeps a full line of domestic and for- 
eign goods, carrying a stock valued at 
820,000. May 22. 1S79, Mr. Nice was united 
in marriage with Miss Alice, a daughter of 
Samuel and Susan (Albright) Taylor, 
natives of Wayne County, and they have 
three children: Mabel, Walter and Mary. 
David Nice is prominent in the social as 
well as the business circles of Wooster. 
He is a member of the Royal Arcanum, 
of the Knights of Honor, and of the Odd 
Fellows order, lodge and encampment. 



He and his wife are both members of the 
English Lutheran Church. 

The success Mr. Nice has met with in 
business is due to the energy and tact he 
has always displayed. He knows the value 
of reputation to a merchant, and always 
aims to do a little better than he promises, 
and his stock is always kept up to the de- 
mands of his patrons. He is universally 
recognized as one of Wooster's enterpris- 
' ing and progressive young business men, 
and has undoubtedly a bright career be- 
fore him. 



/^ 



l\^ JIfRS. HANNAH FUNK, daughter 

\r| of George and Sophia Spangler, 

■' was born in Union County, Peun., 

in 1817, where she remained until 

1834, when she came with her parents to 

Salt Creek Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, 

where they located on a farm, on which 

the mother died. After this her father 
i 
removed to Erie County, Ohio, but event- 

I ually returned, and died in Wayne County. 

To the parents were born nine children, 

of whom three are now living: Hannah, 

now Mrs. Funk; Sarah, now Mrs. Samuel 

Hanson, of AVooster, Ohio, and Rebecca, 

now Mrs. John Bistle, also of Wooster. 

Hannah first married Jacob Baumbard- 

ner, and had five children: Lucinda, now 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



215 



Mrs. Isaac Eaiuey, of Ashlaud County, 
Ohio ; Harry, who is married, and lives in 
Wooster, Ohio; Franklin, in Minnesota; 
John, in Iowa, and F. Merriam, who died 
in Nebraska. Mr. Baumbardner died at 
Findlay, Ohio, and his widow then mar- 
ried America Funk, and located on the 
farm now owned by William Griffith, in 
Clinton Township, Wayne County. Mr. 
Funk was one of the representative men 
of his locality, was a successful farmer, 
and died in 1873, leaving three children: 
Emma T., now Mrs. Irwin Tyler, of In- 
diana; Alice, since deceased, and Re- 
becca, now Mrs. Addison Cushman, of 
Chicago. Mr. Funk had previously been 
married, and was left with three children, 
of whom one was killed in the armj', and 
the other two are still living. Mrs. Funk 
is now a resident of Shreve, and in her 
declining years, although separated from 
her children, is surrounded by life-long 
friends. She is a member of the Disci- 
ples Chiirch, and takes an active interest 
iu it as well as in social matters. 



JACOB MONGEY. In 1828 Xavier 
Mongey came from France and set- 
tled in America, remaining for a 
time iu New York, where he married 
Catherine Icherd, also a native of " La 
Belle France," and together they came to 



Wayne County, Ohio, where they began 
farming. To their married life four chil- 
dren were born, all of whom live in Wayne 
County, Jacob, whose name heads this 
sketch, being among the number. In 1869 
the mother passed from earth. The father, 
who is a well-preserved man of seventy- 
five years, still resides in Wayne County. 
Jacob Mongey remained on the farm 
until twenty years of age, when he learned 
the trade of a carpenter, and at the age 
of twenty-two he was married to Miss 
Mary Graber, a native of France, who 
had come to America with her parents 
when she was four yeai-s of age. Only 
two years of wedded life, however, were 
granted to them, for then death claimed 
the wife, who had become a mother; she 
left one child, Albert, who now resides in 
Wooster, this county. In the fall of 1873 
Mr. Mongey took for his second wife Fan- 
nie Graber, a sister of his former wife, 
and to this union two daughters and one 
son have been born. For several years 
Mr. Mongey was a brewer, also dealing iu 
live stock. He is a stanch Democrat, all 
his life having given considerable time to 
politics, and has filled various positions 
of trust in his county. In 1884 he was 
elected sheriff of the county, and in 1886 
was re-elected to the same position. Mr. 
Mongey is a man of liberal ideas, one 
who at all times extends the rigid hand 
of friendship to every deserving man. 



216 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



T JrON. E. B. ESHELMAN, editor, 
f'^ and a member of the firm of H. 
Jj ~ P. Gravatt & Co., publishers of 
the Wayne County Democrat,* is a 
uative of Mount Joy, Lancaster Co., 
Peun., a sou of Peter and Mary Eshel- 
mau. His father carried on, in a small 
way, the business of chair-making and 
turning, and, being in limited circum- 
stances, his son began when but a boy 
to work to assist iu his own mainte- 
nance. He was for a time errand boy 
and chirk in a store, and then went into 
a printing office at Lancaster, Peun., as 
an apprentice, to learn the trade. After 
working for a short time as journeyman 
he turned his attention to editorial work, 
and, with the exception of four years' edi- 
torial connection with the Daily Ohio 
Statesman, from January, 1865, to Feb- 
ruary, 1869, has given his attention to 



editing and publishing Democratic county 
papers, the most of the time being con- 
nected with the Chillicothe Adcrliser 
and the Wayne County Democrat. As 
an editor he understands fully the entire 
mechanism of a paper, and his editorials 
are well written and forcible. His influ- 
ence in favor of Democrac)' is not con- 
fined to the limits of his own county, but 
extends throughout tlie State, the promi- 
nent part he has taken in politics making 
him well known in political circles. His 
name, contrary to his wishes, has been 
brought before the people by his friends 
in the Seventeenth-Twenty-eighth Dis- 
trict as a candidate for the nomination of 
State senator, which represents the four 
counties — Holmes, Knox, Morrow and 
Wayne. The pi'ess of the various coun- 
ties speaks favorably of him for this im- 
portant position, and we quote the foUow- 



*In September, 1836. Mr. Joseph Cling.m issued 
the first numlier of the Itepublicnn .-iilrwate, whose 
partial mission was the support of Gen. Jaclison 
for the Presidenc}-. This journal continued some 
twelve years, wlien Mr. Clingau sold out to Samuel 
Littell, who bought Ihe Western Teieyraph. which 
had been estaldishtd by Martin Barr. These two 
papers, their politics being identical. Mr. Littell 
consolidated, and he then issued the Demorratie Re- 
publican. This sheet, after a three years' existence, 
was leased to Miller & Carpenter, who published it 
for a year and thi'U abandoned it. Its successor is 
the Wayne Ouunty Democrat, the recognized official 
organ of the party whose interests it supports, and 
first published by Isaac N. Hill for a few years, after 
wliicli Mr. Lillell sold the office to Messrs. C'arn)' & 
Means, who coutiiuied the publication until the 
decease of the latter, when Hon. John Larwill se- 
cured proprietorship of the paper. This gentleman 
sold the office to .lacob A. Jlarcliand. who owned 
the paper up till Ids death, in 1802. The ne.xt ]iur- 
chaser was. in 18(i;i. .lohn II. Olierly. who. in 1804. 
sold to Col. Benjamin Eison. who, two years later, 
sold to lion. John P. Jelfries. who edited the paper 



for a year and then transferred it by sale to Benja- 
min Eason and Asa G. DimmocU. In 180T Mr. 
Eason sold his interest to Mr. DimmocU. who 
received Lemuel Jeffries into partnership, under 
the firm name of Dimmock & Jeffries, and they 
subsequently sold tlie paper to James A. Estill, 
who took charge in April, IMOH. Some ten months 
later, Mr, Estill retiring, Hon. E. B. Esljelman, 
of the Columbus Statexuian. purchased his inter- 
est, tlie Deiiiorrat being conducted by Messrs. Esh- 
elman, Franklin, Harry and John J, Lemon, Mr, 
Eshelman being the editor. In 1872 the last n nned 
sold his share to John H. Boyd. who. in 1876, 
transferred his interest to Thomas E. Peckinpaiigh. 
Ihe business department of the paper bi ing man- 
aged by him for several years, when he sold out. 
Mr. H. P. Gravatt purchased, in July, 18X1, Mr. 
Eshelman's half interest in tlie paper, the latter 
wilhilrawing. but in 1886 returning to the part- 
ncrsliip by jiurchasing the fourth interest belomr- 
ing to the late Dr. L. Firestone, and resuming 
its editorship. The firm name now is H. P. Gra- 
vatt it Co., Mr. Gravatt attending to the business 
of the firm. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



217 



iiig from the Columbus Pos/; "He has 
had legislative experience, has ability of 
a high order, and his industry and push 
are immeasurable. He would be a credit 
to the district in the Ohio Senate, as well 
as a credit to that body." Mr. Eshel- 
man's popularity is not confined to the 
borders of his own State, as the following 
from the Miami County (Ind. ) Sentinel 
will show: "We notice that the name of 
Hon. E. B. Eshelman, editor of the Wayne 
County (Ohio) Democrat, is mentioned in 
connection with the nomination for sen- 
ator in the Seventeenth - Twenty-eighth 
(Ohio) District, composed of the counties 
of Wayne, Holmes, Knox and Morrow. 
No better man and no purer Democrat 
than Mr. Eshelman can the Buckeye 
State boast of. We say to our old friends 
in that district that if Mi'. E. will consent 
to accept the nomination to give it to him 
by a unanimous vote. Mr. Eshelman 
would take a front rank in the Senate, 
and the Democracy of Ohio would have a 
representative of whom they would justly 
feel proud. 'Old Figures' to the front." 
Mr. Eshelman has been first assistant 
clerk of the Ohio Senate, and for a time 
was clerk in the treasui-y department at 
Washington. While living in Chillicothe 
. he was postmaster over four years, and 
president of the Chillicothe City Council. 
In 1874-75 he represented Wayne Coun- 
ty in the Ohio House of Kepresentatives, 



and was chairman of the finance commit- 
tee. In 1888 he was a delegate to the 
National Democratic Convention at St. 
Louis from the Twentieth District. In 
April, 1889, he was elected, against his 
wishes, a member of the city council of 
Wooster, and is now chairman of the 
finance committee of that body. 

Mr. Eshelman is, and persists in being, 
a bachelor. 



/ 



HI ON. JOHN BEINKEKHOFF, re- 
siding in Bloomington, Wayne 
County, was born near New Kings- 
town, Cumberland Co., Penn., June 
9, 1813, the eldest son and second child 
of Daniel and Rebecca (Frazier) Brink- 
erhoflp. He was educated near Dillsburgh, 
Penn., at a private academy, under James 
O'Hail and John Jones, both men of 
marked ability. Mr. Brinkerhoff at eight- 
een began teaching at Roxbury, where he 
remained one year, when he removed with 
his parents to Wayne County, Ohio. Upon 
his arrival in Wayne County he began 
teaching in Canaan Township, where the 
village of Golden Corners now stands, and 
where he taught school thirteen consecu- 
tive year's. 

He was married November 18, 1833, to 
Miss Rebecca Soramers, who was born in 
Washington County, Penn., August 7, 



218 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



1817, a daughter of George and Barbara 
(Harsh) Sommers, natives of Washing- 
ton County. They moved to Wayne 
County in 1819, and settled in Canaan 
Township, near what is now Golden Cor- 
ners. Mr. and Mrs. Brinkerhoff had three 
children: George S., Daniel V. and Jo- 
seph W. The mother died September 2^ 
1851, a member of the United Presbyte- 
rian Church. The two eldest sons served 
in the Union army, George in the Forty- 
seventh Indiana Regiment, and Daniel in 
the Fourth Ohio. After a service of nine 
months Daniel V., being prostrated with 
fever, was brought home, where he died. 
Joseph W. is a graduate from the Woos- 
ter High School in the class of 1869, and 
of the medical department of the Wooster 
University at Cleveland, Ohio, and is at 
present practicing medicine at Burbank, 
Wayne Co., Ohio. November 17, 1852. 
the father married Miss Mary Robinson, 
who was born in Westmoreland County, 
Penn., November 25, 1819, a daughter 
of William and Isabel (Eaton) Robinson. 
In September, 1845, Mr. Brinkerhoff 
removed to Wooster, and became one of 
the managers of the Wooster Academy, 
and one of the principals of the Wooster 
graded schools, under the Aki'ou, Ohio, 
system. He has almost exclusively de- 
voted his time and attention to some 
educational enterprise of the people, either 
as school examiner, superintendent, teach- 



er, trustee or committeeman. Mr. Brink- 
erhoff is one of the substantial and 
intelligent residents of Wooster and 
Bloomingtou ; strictly upright and honor- 
able, he is one of the honored men of 
Wayne County and of Ohio. He was 
county surveyor of Wayne County in 
1844, and has served officially at different 
times in that capacity for eighteen years. 
His labors in this respect continue 
whether in or out of office, and his lines, 
angles and corners are trusty landmarks. 
His valuable services rendered as engineer 
in the construction of the Wooster Water 
Works, and his remarkable fertility in de- 
lineation of plans, contributed largelj' to the 
consummation of that splendid enterprise 
of the citizens of Wooster. He planned 
the arrangements of the Wooster High 
School building on the principle of the 
division of labor, while the details were 
drawn up by a Cleveland ai'chitect. He 
was selected by the county commissioners 
to organize and place in working condi- 
tion the Wayne County Infirmary, and 
was afterward elected a director by the 
citizens of the county. He was elected to 
the House of Representatives of the State 
of Ohio, serving from January 4, 1864, 
to January 1, 1866. He proved himself 
to be a working, vigilant member, prompt- 
ly at his post of duty and keenly alive to 
the interests of his constituents and the 
welfare of the public. While Mr. Brink- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



219 



erhoff has passed his seventy-sixth year, 
by a life of the strictest sobriety and 
temperance, of great evenness, moderation 
and method, not yielding to mental or 
physical excitement, unsapped by excesses, 
unvisited by the assaults of destructive 
passions, he is to-day, in almost the prime 
of manhood, the possessor of a sound mind 
in a healthy body, with every faculty 
susceptible of its strongest tension and 
activity. 

He and his wife belong to the United 
Presbyterian Church, of which he has 
been a life-long and prominent member. 
He was elected an elder in the Killbuck 
congregation of that church at the early 
age of tweuty-foul", and has served in that 
capacity ever since. He was a member of 
the first general assembly immediately 
after the union of the Associate and Asso- 
ciate Reformed branches, in 1857, and 
again at the general assembly in Philadel- 
phia, Penn., in 1873; he also represented 
his church at the Synod of the Reformed 
Chin-ch held at Utica, Ohio. He was 
also selected to represent the good-will of 
his church at the general assembly held 
at Springfield, 111. He was frequently 
employed as peacemaker between contend- 
ing brethren, and rarely failed in attain- 
ing the object of his mission. He is fcre- 
quently selected to settle the estates of 
deceased persons, and is the guardian of 
minor children, some of whom he took 



into his own family and educated. The 
action of the trustees of the Wooster Uni- 
versity in relation to Mr. Brinkerhoff was 
communicated by their secretary, as fol- 
lows: 

Wooster, Ohio, June 25, 1886. 
Mr. John Brinkerhoff— Dear Sir:— It gives me 
great pleasure to inform you that the Board of 
Trustees of the Univcrsit}- of Wooster, at their last 
annual meeting, held June 23 and 33, 1886, unani- 
mously and cordially conferred upon you the hon- 
orary degree of A. M. Congratulating you upon the 
studious habits and scholarly attainments which 
have entitled you to this honor, and with best 
wishes for your continued health and usefulness, I 
am. Very respectfully yours, 

(Signed) Tno.M.\s K. Davis, 

Secretary of the Board of Trustees, University of 

Wooster. 



EORGE LAWRENCE (deceased) 
was born in Middletowu, Penn., in 
1818. His father, Christian Law- 
rence, was also a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, born in Lancaster County January 
25, 1779, and married Magdalena Ettele, 
daughter of PhilipEttele. In May, 1823, 
Christian Lawrence came with his family 
to Wayne County, Ohio, and settled on 
forty acres of land, building a log house 
for his family. Of a family of six sons 
and four daughters, but three sons are 
now living. He and his wife were mem- 
bers of the first church (Lutheran) organ- 
ized in the city of Wooster. 



220 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



George Lawrence was five years old 
when his parents moved to Wayne County, 
and here he was reared and educated. 
He became one of the successful farmers 
of Chester Township, owning at the time 
of his death 400 acres of land, which was 
divided equally among his children. He 
began life poor, and his success was due 
to his own energy, assisted by his noble 
and faithful wife. He married Julia 
Yetter, daughter of Philip Yetter, of 
Penusjdvania, and to them were born ten 
children, eight of whom are living: Eliz- 
abeth, born in 1844, married H. Hemperly 
in 1868; Catharine, born in 1846, was 
married in 1872 to J. Killiuger; Mary 
A., born in 1847, was married in 1882 to 
S. Zimmerman; Maggie, born in 1849, 
was married in 1868 to T. O. Bechtel; 
Emeline, born in 1851, was married in 
1879 to I. Smyser; Nancy, born in 1854, 
married G. Winter in 1882; G. W., born 
in 1856, and Martin, born in 1859; Dan- 
iel and Samuel are deceased. The sons, 
George and Martin, reside on the old 
homestead, and both are intelligent and 
enterprising young men. Martin was 
married in 18S6 to Miss Sarah E. Eyman, 
and they have one child, Emmett. George 
is unmarried. This is one of the highly 
respected families of Chester Township, 
Wayne County, which the father and 
grandfather in times past have done so 
much toward building up, assisting mate- 



rially in its advancement to its pi^esent 
place among the best counties of the 
State. They are members of the Re- 
formed Church; in politics they support 
the Democratic party. 



EPHRAIM LEHMAN. The Leh- 
man family originally came from 

' Germany, where Martin Lehman 

was born in 1744, and whence, when two 
years old, he accompanied his parents to 
America. He was reared in Berks Coun- 
ty, Penn., where he was married to F. 
Christina Speck, who was born in Alsace, 
Germany, in 1751; her parents were sold 
to pay their passage to this country. 
Martin Lehman remained in Berks Coun- 
ty until 1796, when, with his wife, he re- 
moved to Lancaster County, in the same 
State, settling on a small tract of land, 
where he died in 1801 ; his widow survived 
him many years, her death occurring in 

1822. They had a family of seven chil- 
di"en : Catherine, Henry, Christian, George, 
Mary, Martin and John, all of whom 
reached years of maturity. 

John Lehman, the youngest of the fam- 
ily, was born in Berks County, Penn., in 
1790. He lived in his native State until 

1823, when he moved to Wayne County, 
Ohio, and purchased of Dennis Driscoll 




^^^^^ ^^^ /r^/ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



223 



160 acres of lautl in ^V^ayne Township, 
for which he paid §800. He was a miller 
liy trade, which he carried on until he 
moved to "Wayue County, Ohio, from 
which time he followed farming, and by 
hard labor and good management he ac- 
quired a competency. Public-spirited and 
enterprising, he was not only ambitious to 
obtain property for his own use, but was 
also interested in the material welfare of 
his township and county, and always gave 
lilierally of his means to all enterprises 
|5romising to advance, either financially or 
morally, the prosperity of the community. 
He occupied various official positions of 
trust and responsibility; was justice of 
the peace a number of years; was town- 
ship clerk, trustee, treasurer and over- 
seer of the poor. He was twice married, 
liis first wife being Christina Smith, who 
bore him five children: Benjamin, Mary 
Ann, Catherine, Eliza and Nancy. His 
second wife was Nancy Bair, and by her 
he had a family of twelve children : Sarah, 
Ephraim, Elizabeth, Mary Ann, Susan, 
John H., Caroline, Martin, Maria, Christi 
Ann. George D. and Cyrus E. Mr. Leh- 
man lived to see his land cleared of prime- 
val forest, and the wilderness become the 
home of a civilized and prosperous com- 
munity, being at the time of his death 
one of the oldest citizens in AVayne County. 
Ephraim Lehman, the second child and 
eldest son of John and Nancy (Bair) 



Lehman, was born August 11, 182B, in 
Wayne Township. He has all his life 
followed farming, and now owns the land 
purchased by his father. In 1852 he 
married Miss Susan, daujjhter of Jacob 
and Saloma (Billman) Freese, of Wayne 
Township, and by her has had seven chil- 
dren, viz.: Luther V., born November 
29,1854; Cecelia Odessa, born in 1856; 
John E., in 1859; Franklin F., in 1861; 
Cora Bell, in 1864; Herman L., in 1871. 
and Floyd V., in 1874. Mr. Lehman has 
served his township in the varied capaci- 
ties of trustee, clerk and treasurer, hav- 
ing held some official position for the past 
twenty-two years. He is recognized as 
one of the most prominent and public- 
spirited citizens of Wayne County, and is 
highly esteemed and cordially liked by all 
who know him. Like his father, he is a 
Democrat. 



ON. JOHN W. BAUGHMAN is a 

native of Wayue County, Ohio, a 
son of Solomon and Luthena 
Baxighman. His paternal grand- 
parents, John and Elizabeth Baughman, 
were natives of Washington County. 
Penii., where they were married, and in 
1810 they moved with their family to 
Wayne County, Ohio, locating in what is 




224 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



now Baughmau Township, which was 
named in honor of John Baughman. He 
was elected justice of the peace a number 
of terms, and his commissions are still in 
the possession of his grandson, John W. 
He was a well-educated man for his time, 
and was a leader in his township. He 
died in 1837. He was an old-time Dem- 
ocrat, voting for Thomas Jefferson, the 
party's candidate for President. He and 
his wife were members of the Lutheran 
Church. They had a large family, of 
whom only the youngest, David, survives, 
at present a resident of Chippewa Town- 
ship. 

Solomon, the eldest of the family, was 
born March 20, 1800, and when ten years 
old his parents moved to Wayne County. 
He served an apprenticeship at the car- 
riage and wagon - maker's trade, and 
opened the first factory in Dalton. He 
was a successful business man, and was 
elected to fill various official positions in 
the township, among others that of treas- 
urer and trustee. His wife, 7iee Luthena 
Black, was a native of Maryland, and 
when a child accompanied her pai-ents, 
James and Rosanna Black, to Stark Coun- 
ty, Ohio. Her father was a soldier in the 
War of 1812, serving under Gen. Harri- 
son. Solomon and Luthena Baughman 
had a family of four children: John W., 
Elizabeth, James and Jacob. The father 
died March 18, 1887. 



John W. Baughman is the only member 
of his father's family now living. He 
was educated at the public school and the 
academy at Dalton, which was then under 
the supervision of the United Presby- 
terian Church, attending school until 
about seventeen years old, when he began 
teaching in the winter, alternating with 
work in his father's shop. In 1855 he 
was elected to the Legislature by the 
Democratic party, serving one term. In 
1868 he was elected clerk of the courts, 
and removed to Wooster, being re-elected 
in 1871. In 1886 he was again elected 
by the Democratic party to represent 
Wayne County in the Legislature, and 
was re-elected in 1888. 

Mr. Baughmau was married January 1. 
1857, to Miss Charlotte Barkdull, a native 
of Wayne County, daughter of Peter and 
Sarah Bai'kdull, and they have two chil- 
dren, Luthena and Emily. 



JOHN McCLELLAN, of AYooster, is 
one of the oldest living settlers of 
^^ Wayne County, Ohio, and was born 
ixi Beaver County, Penu., in 1810. His 
father, also named John, came with his 
wife and two children, John and Rebecca, 
to the then wild county of Wayne in 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



225 



1813. The land was a dense forest, the 
haunt of wild animals and equally wild 
Indians. The father was born in West- 
moreland County, Penn., March 3, 1785, 
and the mother, nee Nancy Elder, in Frank- 
lin County, Penn., December -4, 1787. 
They were married in Beaver County, 
Penn., September 22, 1806. The father 
was a blacksmith, and followed his trade at 
Wooster until 1824, when he moved to a 
farm five miles south of that place. There 
he lived about seven years, when he 
moved to near Xenia, Greene Co., Ohio, 
where he died March 1, 1867. He was 
quite a politician, and in his earlier years 
was a Jackson Democrat, but later became 
a Kepublicau. He was also an active 
member of the Seceder Church, afterward 
by the union was a United Presbyterian, 
and a man of positive convictions on every 
subject. Nancy (Elder) McClellan, mother 
of the subject of our sketch, was of an 
English family, the date of whose coming 
to this country is lost. Her father, John 
Elder, became totally blind twelve or 
fifteen years before his death. Nancy 
lived with her son, William E. McClellan, 
after her husband's death, she dying in 
1874, at the age of eighty-seven years. 
Like her father, she became blind some 
fourteen years before her death, and re- 
mained so for twelve years, when her sight 
was partially restored, so that she could 
distinguish objects, colors, etc. She and 



her husband had six more children born 
to them after coming to AVayne County, 
viz. : James, Jane, Clark Beveridge, Will- 
iam E., Mary Ann and Harvey Robert. 
All are now living except James. 

John McClellan, our subject, received 
his first education in the typical log 
school-house of the day. At eighteen 
years of age he became a clerk, and hav- 
ing established a reputation for integrity 
and tact, he was two years later furnished 
with capital with which to stfirt in busi- 
ness for himself, which he did at Fred- 
ricksburgh in 1832. In 1836 he sold out 
and returned his borrowed capital, with 
interest, having been quite successful. 
He then entered into partnership with his 
former employer in Wooster, but he, be- 
coming embarrassed, became a burden to 
Mr. McClellan, so the latter retired from 
the firm, and in 1842 went back to Freder- 
icksburgh, again engaging in business 
there, and there remained until 1853, when 
he again sold out, and purchased a farm 
in Wooster Township, four miles south of 
Wooster, on which he lived four years, 
when he went to the latter city to live. 
His success had been ample enough to 
warrant his retiring from active life, but 
desiring to keep his boys employed \vl en 
not in school, he started a shoe store, 
which he carried on some three years, till 
the breaking out of the war, wlien his 
elder son, Jesse, enlisted, and the younger. 



226 



WAVXE COCXTV. 



Lewis, went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he 
remained twelve years. In 1868 Mr. Mc- 
Clellau took an active part in the found- 
ing of the University of Wooster, being 
one of its originators. In 1870 it was 
opened, and Mr. McClellan became its 
first treasurer, retaining that position for 
fifteen years, loaning all its moneys and 
having charge of its funds. He devoted 
most of his time to the cause of the 
university, for whose advancement he 
did as much as any person connected 
therewith. He is still a member of its 
Board of Directors. 

We speak now of the domestic life of 
Mr. McClellan. November 13, 1837, he 
was married to Miss Maria M. Mitchell, 
daughter of Samuel and Mary (McGugen) 
Mitchell, of Franklin Township, of which 
they were pioneers, having settled there 
in 1812. The father was a native of 
Franklin County, Penn., born June 5, 
1776, and went with his parents to Wash- 
ington County, Penn., where, on January 
6, 1808, he was married to Mary Mc- 
Gugen, and they became the parents of 
four children. To Mr. and Mrs. McClel- 
lan were born five children: Maria Antoi- 
nette became wife of J. B. Motherwell, 
of Geneseo, 111., and is now deceased; 
Jesse is in business in Wooster ; Mary is 
wife of L. J. Barker, of Great Bend, 
Kas., who had been revenue collector in 
Wooster for twenty years; Lewis is a 



resident of Wooster, and a partner of his 
brother Jesse, and Martha E. lives with 
her parents. In November, 1887, the 
parents celebrated the golden anniversary 
of their wedding, at which a host of 
friends were present and tendered their 
congratulations. 

Mr. and Mrs. McClellan are members 
of the Presbyterian Churcli, and he is one 
of its elders, and for many years has 
labored earnestly for its advancement. 
Politically he was formerly a Whig, then 
joined the Republican party on its forma- 
tion, and has ever since been one of its 
supporters. During the war he was an 
active friend of the Union, and aided 
much in lessening suffering and sorrow 
among the distressed in Wayne County. 
He has filled various positions, and is still 
a trustee of the University of Wooster, 
and a member of its finance committee. 
Not only is Mr. McClellan in comfortable 
circumstances, but he is marked as one 
who uses his means to help every worthy 
cause and to benefit others. He is es- 
sentially a self-made man, who, by his 
steady application to business, good judg- 
ment and integrity, has made a marked 
success, and has won the esteem of all 
with whom he has been brought into con- 
tact, and made many friends. Himself 
and his beloved wife are now advanced in 
years, and, like pious Christians, are 
calmly awaiting the summons home. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Il", 



QEOEGE B. SIEGENTHALER. 
' This geutlemau is a native of 
Wayne County, born in Wayne 
' Township February 9, 1833. His 
parents, George and Mary (Bresler) 
Siegenthaler, were both natives of Penn- 
sylvania, who, in search of cheaper lands 
and virgin soil, immigrated to this county 
about 1831, and secured a farm in Wayne 
Township. In his native State the father 
had been a weaver by occupation, but 
after comincr to Ohio gave his entire atteu- 
tion to agricultiaral matters. His wife 
was a daughter of John and Rebecca 
Bresler, and of their union eight children 
were born, of whom five are now surviv- 
ing, our subject and his brother Alfred 
residents of Wayne County. In 1872 the 
husband and father went to his last home, 
at the age of seventy-two. His widow 
died May 25, 1889, in Wooster, in her 
eighty-fourth year. 

The subject of our sketch attended the 
schools of his native township, and in 
1851 began learning the trade of tanning 
in Wooster, and three years later, in 1854, 
began business for himself, continuing 
in it for twenty-five years. In 1875 he 
opened a shoe store on West Liberty 
Street, Wooster, at the same time carry- 
ing on liis tanning business. This latter 
he afterward sold, and has since given _his 
entire attention to his shoe trade, and now 
carries the largest stock of that line in 



Wooster. December 25, 1856, Mr. Sieg- 
enthaler was united in marriage with 
Lydia, daugliter of Jacob and Catherine 
Summers, who were natives of Pennsyl- 
vania. The father died in Wooster in 
1888, in his eighty-second year, and the 
mother died April 12, 1889, in her sev- 
enty-fifth year. On November 9, 1886, 
Mrs. Lydia Siegenthaler passed to her 
last home, at the age of fifty-two. She 
had borne our subject four children, all of 
whom are now living, viz. : Hai'vey, a res- 
ident of Springfield, Ohio; Cai-oliue, wife 
of H. H. Miller, of Canton, Ohio; Martha 
and Edward, living with their father. 
Mrs. Siegenthaler was a member of the 
Baptist Church. 

The parents of Mr. Siegenthaler were 
counted among the pioneers of Wayne 
County. When they came here they had to 
clear in the forest a place on which to build 
a home, and the timber felled was used to 
make the log cabin in wliicli they first 
lived. They endured the hardships inci- 
dental to a pioneer life, and had the satis- 
faction of seeing their children all well 
settled. Our subject has made his own 
way in the world, and has been successful. 
He started a poor boy, but by untiring 
energy, industry, and habits of th.rift and 
economy, has amassed a fair competence. 
Better than all, he h;is justly earned, ami 
now enjoys, the esteem and good wishes 
of all wlio know him. In liis political 



228 



WAYNE COUNTY 



views he is a Democrat; he is not a mem- 
ber of any of the fraternities. 



K Jf f ICHAEL MILLEK is a well- 
liVl known citizen of Wayne County, 
Jj -^ and is a native of Penns3']vania, 
born in York County, November 
12, 1813. His parents, both natives of 
the same State, were Michael and Ann 
M. (Horn) Miller, who had eleven chil- 
dren, of whom four are yet living, our 
subject and two others in Waj^ne County, 
and one in Williams County, Ohio. In 
the spring of 1835 the parents came west 
with their family, settling in Wooster 
Township, where both died, the father at 
the age of eighty-three years. 

The subject of these lines had but lim- 
ited opportunities for learning. As a lad 
he was apprenticed to learn the carpen- 
ter's trade, and he attended night school 
to obtain an education. When he was 
twenty-two years old he settled in Woos- 
ter, working at his trade. December 21, 
1837, Mr. Miller was married to Hannah, 
daughter of John and Polly Kauke, a 
native of Wayne County, born in 1820. 
They became the parents of thirteen chil- 
dren, of whom twelve grew to maturity. 
They were named: Perry; Elizabeth, now 
Mrs. H. Myer; Jane, now deceased, who 



was the wife of John Stevens; Araminta, 
also became the wife of Mr. Stevens; 
Kate, wife of Lambert Sellers; Henry 
Harrison, Otto and Benjamin, all of 
Wooster; Ellen was Mrs. C. Webster, of 
Indianapolis, Ind., and is now deceased; 
Nellie is the wife of Frank Maxhimer, of 
Stark County, Ohio; John is deceased; 
one child died in infancy, and Anna is the 
wife of Aug. W. Eberly, of Wooster. 

On first coming to Wooster our subject, 
not finding work, went to Cleveland in 
search of it, going on foot, not being able 
to pay stage hire. Returning to Wooster, 
he found employment, and from a poor 
journeyman he grew to be the most ex- 
tensive contractor and builder in Woos- 
ter, where he has erected most of the 
principal buildings and many fine resi- 
dences. He built all the school buildings 
in the city, the university, count)' jail 
and infirmary. Politically he is a Demo- 
crat, and has filled a number of public 
offices. He has been township trustee, 
township treasurer, and for a number of 
years a member of the city council. He 
and his devoted wife are members of 
the Disciples Church, and in 1887 had the 
pleasure of entertaining a large number 
of friends at their golden wedding. Mr. 
Miller is one of Wayne County's best 
known and most highly respected citizens, 
whose success in life is solelj- the result 
of his own energy, integrity and business 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



2'29 



tact. Beginning life a poor boy, he has 
won for himself not only wealth, but an 
honorable name and place in the commu- 
nity. About ten years ago he partially 
retired from active labor, and although 
still engaged in business, takes life much 
easier. 

Otto, next to the youngest son of our 
subject, was born in Wooster January 13, 
1861. He attended the Wooster High 
School, and in 1882 entered a medical 
college in Cincinnati, but his health fail- 
ing he returned to Wooster and engaged 
in the grocery business with his brother 
Benjamin, the firm being Miller Bros. 
June 7, 1887, he was united in marriage 
with Miss Maud Jackson, daughter of 
William and Hannah Jackson, and a na- 
tive of Wooster. The father died in Crest- 
line, Ohio; the mother is now living in 
Wooster. Mrs. Miller is a graduate of 
the Crestline High School. 



J [AMES C. SIDLE, son of John and 
Joanna (Carson) Sidle [see sketch 
- of John C. Sidle], was born Febru- 
ary 13, 1850, in Plain Township, Wayne 
Co., Ohio. He was married April 27, 
1871, to Mina Tyler, of Plain Township, 
Wayne County, and by her has the fol- 
lowing-named children: Cliffe, born July 



27, 1873; Shirley, born August 19, 1879, 
and Riley Tyler, born April 27, 1887, nil 
now living. 

James C. Sidle has followed farming 
and stock growing in Plain Township, 
Wayne County, since he first commenced 
for himself. He is interested in the fa- 
mous " Abdallah " and other fine breeds 
of horses, as well as Jersey cattle and 
improved blooded sheep, and took first 
premiums on his stallion " Foster " at the 
Wayne County Fair held at Wooster in 
1887. Mr. Sidle is now living on the 
elegant farm formerly occupied by John 
Gillis, on Section 8, Plain Township. 
With the rest of the family, he is in poli- 
tics a stanch Republican. 




ill: AM H. WILER. This well- 
known citizen of Wooster is a 
native of the county, born in 
Wooster Township, April 18, 1855. Both 
of his parents were natives of Peiinsvl- 
vania, and had migrated to Wayne County 
early in the thirties. His father's name 
was Philip Wiler, and his mother's maiden 
name was Elizabeth Weirich. They set- 
tled upon a tract of new land in Wooster 
Township, where he had to clear away the 
forest to make room for his home. There 
they endured the hardships and di-'^coni- 



230 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



forts of a pioueer life, tbeir labors sweet- 
ened by the kiiowletlcre that they were 
creating a comfortable home for the chil- 
dren growing up around tlieir cabin. 
Their principal crop, in fact the only one 
they could turn into ready money, was 
wheat, and the nearest market for that 
was Massillon, Ohio. This home the 
pioneer occupied with his family until a 
few years before his death, when he re- 
moved to Wooster, dying there in 1880, 
at the age of seventy years. The mother 
and wife is now living in Wooster, aged 
sixty-nine. Both were members of the 
Lutheran Church. To this worthy couple 
had been born six children, of whom we 
make the following record: Sarah is now 
Mrs. Christian Shelley, of Plain Town- 
ship, this county; John is living in Ash- 
tabula County, Ohio; Christiana, now 
Mrs. Andrew Branstetter, lives near Woos- 
ter; Mary died in 1874; Ella is Mrs. 
James Miller, of Wooster; William H. 
is the youngest of the family 

William H. Wiler, of whom we write, 
received his education in Wooster, and 
learned in his youth the trade of carpen- 
try. Upon reaching his majority, how- 
ever, he established himself in the boot 
and shoe business at Wooster, and has 
ever since continued therein. In 1876 he 
was married, taking for his life partner 
Miss Mary Lucas, daughter of Josiah and 
Elizabeth (Bitter) Lucas, and a native of 



Pennsylvania. Three children came to 
bless their union, one of whom, Roy, born 
in 1878, died when six months old; Zella, 
born in 1880, and Charles, in 1882, are 
the survivors. 

Mr. Wiler holds an honored place in 
the business and social circles of Wooster, 
and he is justly esteemed as a business 
man whose word may always be depended 
upon, and a citizen who takes a pride in 
and does his share toward the growth and 
pi'osperity of his native county. His fii'st 
start in the shoe business was in partner- 
ship with his father-in-law, Josiah Lucas, 
which connection continued until 1882, 
since when our subject has been alone. In 
the beneficial and secret fraternities Mr. 
Wiler takes much interest. He is a mem- 
ber of the Odd Fellows order, of the Iron 
Hall, and of the Boyal Arcanum. He and 
his wife are both members of the Lu- 
theran Church of Wooster. 



DR. JOSEPH E. BARRETT, one 
of the best known physicians of 

Wooster, was born in Lycoming 

Count}-, Penu., December 2-1, 1833. His 
father, William Day Barrett, was born in 
Yorkshire, England, July 2, 1809, and 
when twelve or fourteen years of age 
came to America with his father and 



maternal grandfather, latter of whom died 
in Pennsylvania. The paternal grajidfather 
of our subject was drowned in the Schuyl- 
kill Eiver, Pennsylvania. William Day 
Barrett was a carpenter and cooper by 
trade, and also a produce dealer. In 
Pennsylvania he was married to Maria 
Morris, a native of Lycoming County, 
Penn., whither her parents had come from 
New Jersey. Her ancestors were Welsh 
and German, the name on lier mother's 
side being Shipman. To this union 
were born ten children, nine of whom still 
live. The father was an active politician, 
and a strong Abolitionist, becoming in 
1850 a RejDublican; the mother was born 
in Lycoming County, Penn., in 1811, 
and died March 20, 1880, aged sixty- 
eight years. 

The subject of this commemorative 
record, as a boy, spent his time in his na- 
tive town, obtaining his education in the 
public schools of Wooster, Ohio, and at 
eighteen he became a school-teacher, a pro- 
fession he followed several years. He then 
went to the University of Michigan, 
where he graduated in 1861, having ac- 
quired part of his medical knowledge in 
the office of Dr. Timothy H. Baker, of 
Wooster, Ohio. In 1862 he went as as- 
sistant surgeon of the Twenty-third Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, first becoming State 
surgeon, and resigned in the fall of 1865. 
He had been commissioned full surgeon 



of the One Hundred and Ninety-fourth 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry ; v/as then made 
chief operator of the Army of the Shen- 
andoah, and for a time was in charge of a 
division hospital ; had the care of all the 
wounded officers of the Eighth Army 
Corps after the battle of the 19th of Sep- 
tember, 1864. The Doctor attended the 
hospital duties until the spring of 1865, 
remaining during the winter at Winches- 
ter, Va. On the 4th of August, 1863, 
he was married to Orrilla, daughter of 
Charles Boydson, of East Union Town- 
ship, Wayne Co., Oliio, and then returned 
to Kanawha River, opposite Charleston, 
West Va., where Iiis regiment lay en- 
camped, taking up his quarters in a tent, 
in which he remained all the fall and 
winter, in the same yard with Mr. and 
Mrs. R. B. Hayes, and several other offi- 
cers and their wives. After resigning 
his commission the Doctor returned to 
Wooster, Ohio, where he began the prac- 
tice of medicine, and has since continued. 
To Dr. and Mrs. Barrett have been born 
four children, viz. : Alpha, Edward Jen- 
ner, Grace and Lucy Hayes, all at home. 
Dr. and Mrs. Barrett are members of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, of the 
Sunday-school of which the Doctor has 
for ten years been superintendent. He 
is secretary of Wayne County Medical 
Society and a member of the American 
Medical Association. He is a member of 



234 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



the Masonic fraternity, having been sen- 
ior warden of Blue Lodge and Chapter, and 
is a comrade of the Grand Army of the 
Republic. He has served as a member of 
the Board of Health for some time, and 
has always been an active worker in 
whatever might tend to improve his 
county and its people. Politically he is a 
Republican, and ever an out-and-out tem- 
perance advocate, both by precept and in 
the practice of his profession. He grad- 
uated in the class of 1882 (Chautauqua 
Class), becoming second president of the 
same, and continued a member for some 
six or seven years after graduating. He 
passed through all the excitement and ex- 
jieriences of the army without tasting in- 
toxicating liquor; and never in all his 
life has he drank a glass of whisky. 



P.ERRY WEAVER, son of David 
Weaver, was born in Centre County, 
Penn., May 15, 1822. His father, 
who was also a native of that county 
and State, came to Ohio in 1831, locating 
in Congress Township, Wayne County, 
wliere he purchased 160 acres of land, 
and here spent the remainder of his days, 
dying in his sixty-eighth year. He reared 
and educated a family of ten children, 
who "rew to manhood and ■womanhood. 



His son. Perry, the subject proper of 
these lines, received a liberal education at 
the public schools, and in his boyhood 
and early manhood experienced the Arca- 
dian life of a farmer's boy, from which he 
evolved, by his own individual exertions 
into the successful and highly respected 
agriculturist he is to-day. December 31, 
1841, he was united in marriage with 
Mary Ann, daughter of John Funnal- 
man, who was one of the early pioneers 
of Wayne County, Ohio. To this union 
were born fourteen children, six of whom 
survive. Mr. Weaver commenced life with 
$500 given him by his father, and by 
hard work, indomitable jaerseverance, care- 
ful industry and judicious management 
he has now one of the finest improved 
farms in the county, embracing 228 acres. 
He and his estimable wife have long been 
identified with the Methodist Episcopal 
Church ; in politics he is a Democrat. 



/ 



ly Jl ARION B. IHRIG, farmer, Wayne 
yf/\ Township, Wayne County. Jacob 
-^ Ihrig, grandfather of M. B. Ihrig, 
was born in Washington County, 
Penn., February 25, 1792, and during the 
War of 1812 was a contractor for the sup- 
ply of provisions to the western army. 
In 1815 he immigrated to Wayne Coun- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



235 



ty, settling in Wayne Township, and 
helped to organize the township in 1816. 
He was in the same year elected captain 
of a militia company, and in 1825 was 
made major of the regiment. Mr. Ihrig 
was justice of the peace from 1824 to 
1851. and was elected commissioner of 
the county in 1827. He was an active, 
public-spirited man, taking a prominent 
part in the politics of the county. He 
served in the Ohio Legislature from De- 
cember G, 1830, to December 4, 1837, and 
in the State Senate from December 3, 
1838, to December 7, 1840. In 1852 he 
was made district assessor, and in 1853 
was elected a member of the Board of 
Equalization. His wife was Elizabeth Eb- 
erly, whose parents were Pennsylvanians, 
and she became the mother of five chil- 
dren, whose names were Susan (Mrs. 
Kintner), Elizabeth (Mrs. Breuizer), 
Rachel (Mrs. Goodyear), Sophia and 
Simon P. Jacob Ihrig entered a quarter 
section of land, and made additional 
purchases, having sold but eighty acres 
prior to his death. He identified himself 
with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 
early manhood, and remained a faithful 
member to the time of his death, in 1877. 
His widow is now aged ninety-two years. 
Simon P., their only son, was born in 
1827. He married Elizabeth Sonne- 
decker, daughter of John Sounedecker. 
Marion B. was the only child born to this 



marriage. In 1850 Simon P. Ihrig im- 
migrated to California, and met his death 
by drowning, in the north branch of the 
Feather River, April 19, 1851. His widow, 
who was left in charge of the farm, after- 
ward married Thomas Barton, who is now 
deceased. The mother is still living on a 
farm in Ashland County owned by her, 
and her son makes his home with her. 

Marion B. Ihrig was born April 15, 
1849. He was educated in the common 
schools of the township, and has always 
followed farming, and now superintends 
the cultivation of the homestead, which 
has been in the family since its entry. 
He is also engaged in raising and break- 
ing colts and horses, and has never failed 
to bring most cases under perfect subjec- 
tion. He has been moderately successful 
in his farming operations, and is one of 
the progressive men of the township, 
adojDting new and improved methods to 
facilitate the work of the farm. He de- 
servedly stands high in the estimation of 
those who know him. In politics he is a 
Democrat, taking an active part in cam- 
paign work. He is a member of the 
United Brethren Church, and is superin- 
tendent of the Sunday-school, class-leader 
and chorister. He was married, January 
7, 1872, to Retta S. Miller, daughter of 
Thomas Miller, and they have had six 
children: Claude, born January 14, 1874; 
Ernest, October 6, 1876; Roy, April 



236 



WAVNE COUNTY. 



22, 1880; Koscoe, September 21, 1881; 
Celia, August 2i, 1886, and Paul, Sep- 
tember 27, 1888. Roy died in infancy. 




ENRY B. HOOVER, retired farm- 
er, living on Section 14, Greene 
Township, and whose postoffice 
address is Orrville, Ohio, is one of 
the oldest citizens of the township, and 
was born in York County, Peun., on June 
21, 1813. His great-grandfather, Benja- 
min Hoover, with his wife, came from Ger- 
many long prior to the Revolution, set- 
tling first in Lancaster County, Peun. At 
that early day the Indians were very 
troublesome, and the settlers had to make 
their crops with their rifles by their sides. 
The history of those times gives many 
incidents of interest in which Benjamin 
Hoover and family bore a part. His son, 
Henry, was grandfather of the subject of 
this sketch. He was born in Lancaster 
County, Penn., in 1743, and he became a 
farmer and minister of the Menuonite 
Church. Later in life he removed to York 
County, Penn., and bought a farm of 180 
acres near Dillstown, on which he lived 
the remainder of his life, dying in 1825, 
when nearly eighty-three years of age. 
His wife wns Mary Neeswanger, also a 
native of Lancaster County, Penn., who 



died in 1831, when she lacked but two days 
of completing her eightieth year. Tliey 
had six children: John, Christian, Abra- 
ham, Susanna, Barbara and Elizabeth. 
The latter is the only survivor, and is the 
widow of Jacob Napp, who died fifty-six 
years ago. She is a resident of Wayne 
County, and is eighty-nine years old. 

John Hoover, father of Henry B., was 
born August 31, 1780, and died in Greene 
Township, this county, December 16, 
1863, aged eighty-three years. He was 
brought up to farming, and lived with 
his father until he was thirty-one years 
of age. In 1814 he moved to the adjoin- 
ing county of Cumberland, where he 
farmed until 1833, when he and his entire 
family removed to this county. He bouglit 
the farm where our subject and daughter 
now live. This farm contained 167 acres, 
of which but fifteen acres were cleared. 
The house was partially built, .nud was 
the first hewed log house in the towusLip. 
It is yet a comfortable and pleasant home. 
John Hoover made this his home until 
his death, which, however, took jjlace 
while he was on a visit to his daughter, 
Mrs. Daniel Holser, on an adjoining farm. 
He was an industrious man, was often 
called upon to act as executive or adminis- 
trator in settling up estates, and was a 
strictly upriglit man. He was married in 
York County, Peun., November 11, ISll, 
to Catherine Bare, a native of that county, 



WAYNE COUNTY 



237 



born September 29, 1701. She died iu 
Greene Township October 5, 1867, aged 
sixty-six years and six days. This couple 
had but two children: Henry B. and Eliz- 
abeth (wife of Daniel Holser, living on 
the place where her father died). She 
was born in Cumberland County, Penn., 
July 16, 1823. 

Henry B. Hoover was iu his twentieth 
year when he came with his parents to 
Wayne County. He worked for his father 
until his marriage. The farm which he 
inherited from the estate is one of the 
best cultivated and fenced in the county. 
Besides the original 1G7 acres, it com- 
prises six acres, with a brick house, which 
Mr. Hoover biiilt for his own use when 
he retired from active life, twenty years 
ago. Mr. Hoover was married April 21, 
1853, in Stark County, Ohio, to Elizabeth 
Christman, who was born in Westmore- 
land County, Penn., February 1, 1815, 
and came to Ohio with her mother and 
brother in 1851. Her brother, Jacob, is 
yet living in Stark County, aged sixty -two. 
Previous to her coming here another 
brother, John, had been living in that 
county, and on the death of the father the 
rest of the family joined him. John died 
April 5, 1888, aged seventy-seven years 
and two months. Mrs. Hoover comes of 
patriotic stock. Both of her grandfathers 
had been Revolutionary soldiers, and the 
maternal grandfather, Jacob Houk, was in 



many battles. Mr. and Mrs. Hoover have 
one child, Mary, wife of William A. Fike, 
whose history is given elsewhere. Mr. 
Hoover is well known and much respected. 
He has been appraiser, school dii-ector for 
twenty years, and has ever discharged the 
duties entrusted to his care with fidel- 
ity. He and his wife are members of the 
German Reformed Church at Orrville. 



El MIL ROTTHAUS, a native of Ger- 
many, came to America in 1866, at 
' the age of seventeen. After an ex- 
tended tour of the Southern and Western 
States he reached Chicago in 1875, where 
he learned the baker's trade. In 1876 he 
came to Wooster, where, after working for 
two years at his trade, he commenced 
business for himself, opening a bakery at 
the southwest corner of the public square. 
His success shows what a thorough knowl- 
edge of and close application to business 
can accomplish. In 1885 he built the 
block on West Liberty Street, where, be- 
sides conducting a first-class bakery and 
confectionery, he keeps a full stock of 
groceries and provisions, and in the rear 
a well-equipped bar. 

Mr. Rotthaus married, in 1877, Miss 
Catharine Carroll, who, though of Irish 
birth and parentage, was reared and edu- 



238 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



cated in Baltimore, Md. Tiieir uniou has 
been blessed by the birth of five children, 
only three of whom, Amelia, Herman 
and Julius, are now living. 



JfOSIAH LUCAS, of Wooster, Wayne 
i^ I Co., Ohio, is on his father's side 
—^ of Scottish ancestry, his grandfather 
having emigrated from Scotland to America 
many years ago. His father, Solomon 
Lucas, was a native of Pennsylvania, and 
in that State was married to Maria Hoof, 
who was of German extraction. They 
were the parents of ten children, four of 
whom are yet living, our subject being 
the only one in Wayne County. The fa- 
ther was a carpenter by trade, and in 
April, 1858, passed away, at the age of 
eighty-four, and in 1868 his widow died, 
aged eighty-six years. 

The subject of this sketch was born in 
Lehigh County, Penn., October 4, 1826. 
He had but limited school facilities, and 
when but ten years of age began working 
on a farm, where he was to receive his 
board and clothes and three months' 
schooling a year, but the latter he never 
had. He remained at this place from 
1836 till 1839, and then left and worked 
a time for others. In IS-ll he was again 
hired by a farmer, remaining with him 



until 1844, when he began to learn the 
shoemaker's trade, and completed his ap- 
prenticeship in 1847. June 5, 1849, he 
was united in marriage with Elizabeth, 
daughter of Joseph and Barbara Bitter, 
and a native of Bucks County, Penn. Mr. 
Lucas worked at his trade several years 
in Pennsylvania, and in 1865 migrated to 
j Wayne County, arriving in Wooster Sep- 
' tember 26, with his wife and ten children. 
For ten years he worked at his trade on 
I the bench, and in 1876 embarked in the 
retail boot and shoe business, in partner- 
ship with his son-in-law, William H. 
Wiler, in Wooster. This connection con- 
tinued until 1882, when he sold his inter- 
est, and has since then worked at his 
trade, manufacturing custom work. To 
our subject and wife thirteen children 
were born, of whom three are deceased, 
viz. : Frank P., John C. and Cassan. Those 
living are Josephine, at home; Alfred, a 
resident of Wooster; Mary, wife of Will- 
iam H. Wiler, of Wooster; Elmiua, wed- 
ded to A. Kincaid, of Canton, Ohio; Ida, 
married to George Maeyers, of Houtzdale, 
Penn.; Annie, now Mrs. William Linn, of 
Wooster; Harvey H., of Wooster; Tillie, 
Alberta and Janet, at home. 

Our subject is essentially a self-made 
man, having begun at the very bottom of 
the ladder and without a dollar. His first 
start was obtained by working as a jour- 
neyman shoemaker, and when he had 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



239 



saved 814: concluded to open a shop. He 
bought some stock and tools, and was 
obliged to run in debt for one set of lasts, 
for which he promised to pay in a week, 
and at the end of that time was able to 
meet his obligation. Since about 1851 
he lias been an employer, having usually 
six or more men working for him. His 
success is due to his steady industry, his 
sterling honesty and uprightness, which 
gained him the confidence of those with 
whom he was brought into contact, and 
these were the principal factors in build- 
ing up his business. To-day he is one of 
the best known and highly respected citi- 
zens of Wayne County, and one of whom 
everyone who knows him speaks in terms 
of praise. In politics Mr. Lucas was 
formerly a Democrat, but later he joined 
the Republican party, with which he is 
now affiliated. Since May, 1850, he has 
been a member of the Odd Fellows order, 
and he and his estimable wife are re- 
spected members of the Lutheran Church 
of Wooster. 



GYRUS BOWMAN, distiller, Wayne 
Township, is one of the represeuta- 
— ' tive citizens of Wayne County. He 
was born in Cumberland County, Penn., 
in 1831, of German ancestry, the family 



being among the early settlei's of the 
United States. The first of whom we 
have any record was the grandfather of 
our subject. Christian Bowman, who was 
born ia Lancaster County, Penn., and 
married Ann Horst. They had a family 
of nine children, five sons and four daugh- 
ters. Christian Bowman, Sr., died in 
Lexington, Ky. Their third son, Henry, 
was born in York County, Penn., in 1808, 
and died in Smithville, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
in 18-14. He was a farmer and miller by 
occupation. He married Miss Martha 
Musser, daughter of Dr. Joseph Musser, 
and to them were born seven children, 
four sons and three daughters, Cyrus be- 
ing the eldest of the family. He was 
given fair educational advantages, and be- 
gan his life of labor by learning the har- 
ness-maker's trade. He subsequently was 
employed three years at clerking and mill- 
ing, and in 1864 started a distillery at 
Cedar Valley, where he remained until 
1880, when he removed to Tiffin, Ohio, 
and operated a distillery for his son, C. 
K. Bowman, up to July, 1883, at which 
time he removed to Wooster, Ohio, where 
his son, C. K. Bowman, purchased the old 
Stibbs property, formerly a woolen manu- 
factory, and converted it into a distillery, 
and he is now superintending the same 
for his son. This is the only distillery in 
the State of Ohio that manufactures ex- 
clusively all rye whisky, distilled in all 



240 



WAYNE COUXTY. 



copper stills, and guaranteed free from 
fusel-oil and drugs. 

Mr. Bowman was married in 1854 to 
Mary A. Krysher, and to them have been 
born four children, three of whom are 
living: Clarence K., Cora M. and Maud 
(now Mrs. Keller). Clarence K. married 
Miss Maggie Landow, daughter of Henry 
Landow, and they have three children. 
Mr. Bowman is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity ; in politics he is a Democrat. 



If SAAC BECHTEL. This old and well- 
known citizen of Wayne County is of 
— Geriiiau ancestry, but the family have 
for several generations been natives of 
America. He was born in Northampton 
County, Penn., December 29, 1816. His 
father, George Bechtel, and his paternal 
grandparents were also natives of the 
same State. His maternal grandfather, 
Jacob Berto, was also a native American, 
whose ancestors came from France. 
George Bechtel was by occupation a 
farmer, and grew to manhood in his na- 
tive State, where he was married to Miss 
Elizabeth Berto, daughter of Jacob and 
Franie Berto, and a native of Berks 
County, Penn. 

In search of a better home and cheaper 
lands on which to settle the family grow- 



ing up around them, George Bechtel and 
wife came to Wayne County, Ohio, in 
1836, arriving at Wooster May 8. He 
first purchased a small farm, about three 
miles from Wooster, and by industry and 
thrifty habits, aided by a good wife, was, 
after a time, enabled to increase his pos- 
sessions, becoming the owner of 200 acres 
of good land, and a grist-mill and a saw- 
mill on Crawford's Kun. The good wife 
and mother was called to her last rest in 
September, 1854, at the age of sixty-four 
years. She had borne eight children, as 
follows: Jacob B. and Hetty, both now 
deceased; Sarah, widow of Henry Hess; 
Isaac; Franie, now Mrs. J. Bahl, of Wil- 
son County, Kas. ; Abraham, living in this 
county ; Elizabeth, now Mrs. Allen, of Sen- 
eca County, Ohio, and Reuben, who was a 
Union soldier, and died while in the serv- 
ice, near Vicksburg, Miss., June 11, 1863, 
at the age of thirty-three years. After 
the death of his wife George Bechtel re- 
tired from the harder labors of life, and 
was later married to Catherine Beer- 
baugher, who died January 18, 1876. In 
November of the same year her husband 
followed her to the grave, at the age of 
eighty-eight years. His life had been an 
active one, and having always enjoyed 
good health, he was able to do much for 
the upbuilding of his adopted county. 
Though not in any sense a politician, he 
was an old-line Whig, and cast his ballot 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



241 



regularly for the caudidiites of bis party. 
He was a member of the German Re- 
formed Church. 

Isaac Bechtel, the subject proper of 
these lines, had but limited school advan- 
1:ages, and early worked on his father's 
farm. He was twenty years old when he 
came to Ohio. In 1843 he was married 
to Caroline, daughter of Jacob and Eliza- 
beth Troutman, all natives of Berks 
■County, Peuu. Her mother died in 
Henry County, Ohio, and her father in 
Wooster Township, this county. Our 
subject and his wife have had but one 
child, Lizzie, who attained the age of 
nine years, when she joined the silent 
majority. In politics Mr. Bechtel was 
first a Whig, and on the formation of the 
Republican party joined its ranks, and 
acted with it until he became convinced 
that the cause of prohibition, of which 
he is an earnest advocate, would never be 
aided by either of the old parties, and he 
then joined the Prohibition party ranks, 
of which he is now one of its most active 
members. In the fall of 1877 Mr. 
Bechtel became superintendent and treas- 
urer of the Wooster Cemetery Asso- 
ciation. Since 1846 lie has been affili- 
ated with the Odd Fellows order, and 
he and his wife are members of the En- 
glish Lutheran Church. Widely and 
favorably known throughout the county, 
Mr. Beclitel will long be remembered, 



not only as one of its early settlers, but 
as a citizen whose character and conduct 
is above reproach, and who has done his 
share to advance its prosperity. 




NDREW MILBOURN is a son of 
Josiah and Eunice (Pratt) Mil- 
bourn, and was born on the home- 
stead he now occupies, in East Union 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, June 26, 
1822. Josiah Milbourn, with his mother, 
Jemima, and two brothers and four sisters, 
came from Columbiana County, Ohio, in 
1816, and located on Section 3, in East 
Union Township, Wayne Count}'. An- 
drew, his eldest brother, was in the War 
of 1812, and died in Michigan; Thomas, 
the next brother, died in Richland County, 
Wis. ; Keziah died in De Kalb County, 
Ind. ; Jane died in Huron County, Ohio ; 
Sarah died in Iowa; Deborah died in 
East Union Township, Wayne County. 
Josiah was born in Loudoun County, Va. , 
in 1799, and died in 1880. He was the 
youngest of the family, and when first 
starting out for himself he worked on the 
farm now owned by our subject, on Section 
10, East Union Township. In 1827 he 
purchased one-half of the present quartei- 
of land occupied by the latter, where he 
died. He was a prominent Democrat, and 



242 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



held various towusbip offices. His widow 
died iu Wayne Township in 1889. Their 
family consisted o£ six children: Maria, 
wife of Samuel Swinehart, of East Union 
Township, Wayne County; Andrew, our 
subject; Sarah, deceased wife of Charles 
Boydston ; Eunice, deceased wife of Peter 
Mowrer ; Sophronia, wife of Israel Grady, 
of AVooster; Jane, who died in infancy. 

Andrew, whose name heads this sketch, 
attended the schools of that period, and 
has always followed farming. December 
7, 1845, he married Miss Matilda, daughter 
of Henry Mowrer, of East Union Town- 
sliip, Wayne County, and by this union 
were boru eleven children, two of whom 
(sons) died in infancy. Those living are 
Maria, who is the wife of Thomas Grody, 
of Illinois, and has two children — An- 
drew and Samautha; Amanda, wife of 
Stephen Mowry, of Smithville, Ohio, has 
one child, Effie; Martha, wife of Joshua 
S. Bowman, of East Union Township, has 
three children: Walter, Sloan and Alma; 
Mary, wife of William S. Fisher, of East 
Union Township, Wayne County, has one 
child, Perry ; Laura, wife of Jacob Holt- 
ser, of Orrville, has one child, Ellis; 
Eunice, wife of Isaac J. Smith, of Wayne 
Township, Wayne County, has three chil- 
dren: Harvey, Laura and Glen; Kate, wife 
of Calvin Culler, of Wooster Township, 
Wayne County, has one child, June; Alma, 
wife of J. Edgar Frick, of Wayne Town- 



ship, Wayne County, has two children, 
Charles and Gail ; Tillie, wife of William 
Culler, of Wooster Township. 

Mr. Milbourn is a Democrat in politics. 
He served as postmaster at East Union 
for four years under the administration of 
President Buchanan, and has been super- 
visor and trustee of the township. He 
has also been treasurer of the East Union 
Insurance Company. He and family at- 
tend the Lutheran Church. His mother 
was a daughter of Oliver Pratt, a native 
of Boston, and his wife, Jedidah Luce, 
was a native of Martha's Vineyard. They 
settled in the State of Maine, where the 
mother of Andrew Milbourn was born, 
and then moved to Albany, N. Y. Com- 
ing to Ohio iu 1814, thej' remained iu 
Trumbull County for one year, and in 
1815 they entered the tract of land which 
was afterward purchased by Josiah Mil- 
bourn, and is now owned by our subject. 
Mr. Pratt engaged in farming and the 
raising of silk-worms. He was a promi- 
nent member of the Baptist Church. 



GW. LESSITEK, son of William 
Lessiter, a native of England, who 
^- came to the United States in 184H, 
was born November 10, 1848, in Frank- 
lin Township, Wayne Co., Oliio. His 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



243 



father came to Wayne County, Ohio, from 
Doylestowu, Ohio, anil to Jefferson, Plain 
Township, in 1S53. 

The subject of tliis biographical me- 
moir was educated at the local schools of 
his township, and learned harness-mak- 
ing, a trade he has followed for a consid- 
erable period of time. He was also for 
some time United States mail carrier be- 
tween Wooster, Wayne County, and Ash- 
laud, Ashland Co., Ohio, and in 1881 he 
was appointed postmaster at Plain, which 
office he still holds. In same year Mr. 
Lessiter opened a general country store 
at Jefferson, Plain Township, in connec- 
tion with harness-making, and is meeting 
with good success. March 10, 1870, he 
married Emma H. Gardner, of Plain Town- 
ship, Wayne Co., Ohio, and by her had the 
following-named children: William W., 
Frank W. and Frederick C, all yet living. 



TpijEED. H. HAKDING, of the firm of 
ll Harding & Co., hardware mer- 
-^ chants, of Wooster, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 
1858. His father, William A. Harding, is 
a native of the city of New York, born in 
a house on Vandewater Street, the site of 
which now forms a part of one of the 
arches of the great Brooklyn bridge. He 



went to Wisconsin in 1843, and there re- 
mained a number of years in the mercan- 
tile business, when he returned to New 
York, and went into the Panama Railroad 
office, and afterward for some years he 
was a dry goods jobber. He is now a pro- 
fessional accountant. His father was an 
Englishman by birtli. On the maternal 
side, our subject's great-grandfather was 
of French Huguenot blood; his mater- 
nal grandfather was born in America, and 
held for many years an official position as 
harbor master at the port of New York. 
William A. Harding, father of Frederic 
H., was united in marriage, in the city of 
New York, with Miss Kate S. Fountain, 
daughter of Capt. Gideon Fountain, who 
was of an old Staten Island, N. Y., fam- 
ily, and was born in New York. Of 
this union seven children wei'e born, of 
whom Frederic H. is the only one living in 
Wayne County, Ohio. A brother, Will- 
iam A. Harding, Jr., had preceded him 
to this county, coming here about 1873, 
but he died in 1881. 

The subject of this sketch came to 
Wayne County in 1878, and was estab- 
lished in the hardware business with his 
brother, William A. Harding, Jr.. as 
Harding & Co., and has ever since been 
engaged there. He is one of the younger 
merchants of Wooster, and by his thorough 
business-like ways and scrupulous honesty 
in all his transactions has acquired the 



244 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



coufidence of the people, and in conse- 
quence thereof he has a good and growing 
trade. He is well known, and is respected 
by all. He is a Republican in politics, 
and socially has membership in the I. O. 
O. F., K. O. T. M. and National Union. 



AVID W. BECHTEL, merchant, 
Wooster, was born in Wooster 
Township, July 1, 1843. He is of 
German ancestry, and his father, Jacob 
B. Bechtel, was a native of Pennsylvania, 
a farmer by occupation, and the owner of 
a saw-mill. Upon reaching manhood, 
Jacob B. was married to Elizabeth, 
daughter of George Ridenhour, and in 
1842 the family came to Wayne County, 
and settled upon a partially improved 
farm. Here the parents of our subject 
I)assed the remainder of their lives, the 
father dying in December, 1885, at the 
age of seventy-three years, and three 
months later the mother followed him to 
the grave, also aged seventy-three. He 
was a member of the German Reformed 
Church, and she of the German Lutheran 
Church. This worthy couple were the 
parents of fourteen children, nine now 
surviving, and all hut one making their 
homes in Wayne County. Jacob Bechtel 
was an industrious man, who mndo jiis 



own way in the world. He started a 
poor boy, but died fairly well off. He 
always bore the reputation of an honest 
' and trustworthy man. 

David W. Bechtel attended the common 
schools in winters for a few mouths, and 
stayed on the home farm until he was sev- 
enteen years of age, then going to San- 
dusky City to learn the trade of carriage- 
making. The firm failing, he I'eturned to 
Wooster, where for a few months he 
worked at his trade. August 13, 18G2, 
he offered his services to his country, en- 
listing in Company F, One Hundred and 
Second Ohio Infantry, and served almost 
three years. After receiving his dis- 
charge he returned to Wayne County, and 
in October, 1865, became a clerk in a dry 
goods store, in which he remained ten 
years. For a year after that he traveled 
for a Philadelphia firm, and then for six 
years he was in the office of the supreme 
reporter of the K. of H. at Wooster. 
Following this he was again employed in 
a dry goods house, and in June, 1885, 
began for himself, dealing in wall-papers, 
window-shades, toys, fancy goods and nov- 
elties, of which he keeps a large and well - 
assorted stock. 

In 1S6S Mr. Bechtel was married to 
Rebecca, daughter of J. C. Plumer, sketch 
of whom appears elsewhere, and four chil- 
dren have been born to them, Harvey C, 
Marv A., Bessie and Julia, all at home. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



245 



Mr. Bechtel is a member of the Kuights of 
Honor and of the Royal Arcanum, and 
his wife is a member of the Presbyterian 
Church of Wooster. He is one of Woos- 
ter's bright young business men, who is 
by his upright character and life winning 
the esteem of all who know him. 



•p^jE ANK SNYDER was born in Bucks 
|[ County, Penn., in 1830. Hisgraud- 
^ father, Andrew Snyder, was a native 
of Zweibrilcken, Germany, on the Rhine, 
and came to this country in 1760, and for 
over five years served in the Revolution- 
ary War. He had a family of twelve 
children, one of the older ones being 
George, the father of our subject. 

George Snyder married Mary Mickley, 
whose father, Philip Mickley, served 
seven years in the Revolutionary War. 
Her grandfather also came from Zwei- 
brilcken, Germany, in 1720. Part of the 
family were killed by the Indians in one 
<jf their great massacres. Philip escaped 
by hiding in the underbrush, while a 
little brother and sister were tomahawked 
near by. The family owned the grounds 
at Gettysburg upon which is now the 
National Cemetery, and their family burial 
grounds are still there, having been set 
aside and preserved by the National Gov- 



ernment. To George Snyder and wife 
were born ten children, as follows: Cath- 
erine, now Mrs. John King, of Bedford, 
Iowa; Aaron, of Osage, Iowa; Lewis M., 
for a long time a map publisher, of Chi- 
cago, 111., died in 1888; Eliza, married 
to William Miller, died in 1853; Henry 
died in 1848; Frank, whose name head.s 
this sketch; William, a map publisher, of 
Chicago, died in 1878; Mary, now Mrs. 
Pliilip Hine, of Spencer Centre, Ohio; 
Sophia, wife of Rev. Samuel Coaklin, of 
Rows, Ohio, and George W., pastor of 
St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Davenport, 
Iowa, who served three years in the vol- 
unteer service and one year in the regular 
service during the War of the Rebellion. 

Geoi'ge Snyder remained in Bucks 
County until after his father's death, 
when he was appointed administrator of 
the estate. In 1834, with his family, con- 
sisting at that time of his wife and seven 
children, he moved to Wayne County, 
Ohio, and settled in the southern part of 
Chester Township, near the present town 
of New Pittsburgh, buying forty acres of 
land. He afterward sold his first pur- 
chase and bought a larger adjoining farm. 
He lived to make many valuable improve- 
ments in his township, and to realize, in 
a measure, at least, the consummation of 
his fond hopes in regard to his adopted 
county, dying at the advanced age of 
nearly eighty years. 



246 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Frank Snyder was reared in Chester 
Township, being but four years of age 
when his parents settled here. He was 
early inured to the work of the farm, 
receiving the educational advantages af- 
forded in the common schools of those 
days. When twenty years of age he be- 
gan to learn the carpenter's trade, and 
when twenty-two years old, the trade of a 
millwright, at which he continued thirty- 
two years, building and remodeling a 
number of the mills of Wayne and adjoin- 
ing counties. In 1884 he bought the farm 
where he now lives of John Myers' heirs. 
It contains 200 acres of choice land, and 
the improvements are among the best in 
the township. Mr. Snyder married Miss 
Ella Myers, daughter of John Myers, and 
they have two children: Wayne and Mary. 
Mr. Snyder is a member of the Methodist 
Church, while his wife is a member of the 
Baptist Church. In politics he affiliates 
with the Republican party. 



d[ C. PLUMER, a well-known old resi- 
dent of Wooster, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
— was born in Westmoreland County, 
Penn., September 28, 1821, and is a son 
of Lazarus and Jane Plumer, both na- 
tives of the Keystone State. His grand- 
father, George Plumer, was born at Fort 



Pitt, and was said to be the first white 
child born west of the Alleghanies. He 
was a farmer by occupation, and was mar- 
ried to a Miss Lowery. Lazarus Plumer 
was mai-ried to Jane Craig, whose parents 
were born and died in Pennsylvania. Of 
their union ten children were born (three 
of whom are yet living), three in this 
county. In 1840 the family migrated to 
Wayne County, to make it their future 
home. TJie parents had first come here 
in 1822, but on account of the sickness of 
the mother had returned to Pennsylvania. 
They settled in Chester Township, where 
the mother died in 1843, aged forty-four 
years. Her husband broke up house- 
keeping in 1846, and died in 1863, at the 
age of seventy-one. Both of the parents 
had been members of the Presbyterian 
Church. 

J. C. Plumer received a common-school 
education, and early began to learn the 
trade of blacksmithing, but after coming 
here worked with his father on the farm. 
In 1844 he was married to Mary, daugh- 
ter of Robert and Margaret Patterson, 
and a native of Wayne County. In the 
spi-ing of 1846 he volunteered for the 
Mexican War, and on June 9 left Woos- 
ter as a member of Company E, Third 
Ohio Infantry, and served thirteen months 
and four days. He lived in Wayne Town- 
ship until April, 1848, when he removed 
to Adams County, lud., where he worked 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



247 



at his trade until November, 1855, when 
he came back to Wooster, and followed 
his trade there for some time. In the fall 
of 185G he was made a deputy slieriff, 
holding the position for two years. In 
April, 18()1, he removed to Congress 
Township, and on the outbreak of the 
Rebellion he enlisted in Capt. Bailey's 
company for three mouths' service. Id 
forming the Sixteenth Ohio Regiment, 
Capt. Bailey was made major and Aquila 
Wiley was made captain, and our subject 
second lieutenant of Company C. Soon 
after he was attacked with varicose veins 
and rheumatism, when he resigned his 
position, returning to Congress Town- 
ship, removing to Wooster in the fall of 
the same year. Following spring he en- 
tered the employ of Baumgardner & Co., 
with whom he remained until May, 1862, 
wlien he again enlisted for three mouths, 
this time in Company E, Eighty-fifth Ohio 
Infantry, being second lieutenant thereof. 
They served their term at Camp Chase, 
and on the expiration of service, in Sep- 
tember, returned to Wooster, where he 
has since made his home. 

Our subject and his wife had three 
children: Rebecca, now wife of David 
W. Bechtel, living in Wooster, and Mar- 
garet J. and Washington J., both de- 
ceased. Formerly Mr. Plumer was a 
Democrat, but in 1854 became a Repub- 
lican, and voted for Abraham Lincoln for 



President in 1860, and has since been a 
Republican. He takes much interest in 
the fraternities. Since 1855 he has been 
connected with the Odd Fellows order — 
both branches; since 1809 has l)eeu a 
member of the Knights of Pythias, and in 
1875 joined the Knights of Honor, being 
elected sujDreme reporter, and afterward 
grand reporter, holding the first position 
six years and the latter eight years. At 
present he is grand treasurer of the 
Knights of Honor. In 1878 Mr. Plumer 
joined the Royal Arcanum and the 
G. A. R. 



[(-^ H. BOYD, of the firm of Laubach 
& Boyd, is a native of this county, 
born in Wooster Township, near 
the city, February 21, 1851. His father, 
Hugh Boyd, was born in County Clare, 
Ireland, and was a surveyor and school- 
teacher in his native land. He came to 
America about 1840, and made liis home 
in Wayne County, on a farm in Plain 
Township. About 1848 the family re- 
moved to Wooster, and there, in 1852, the 
father died. He was a Whig in his po- 
litical preferences, and a member of the 
United Presbyterian Cluarch. Since the 
death of her husband Mrs. Boyd has re- 
sided in Wooster. She was born in Penn- 



24« 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



sylvania, and her maiden uame was Aman- 
da Brown, being a daughter of Eobeit 
and Jane Brown, l)otli of whom died in 
Wayne County. Of her union with Hugh 
Boyd, four chihh-en were born, viz. ; Jen- 
nie A., living with her mother; John, a 
printer by trade, and a resident of Mans- 
field, Ohio; Eobert B., who resides near 
Colurnbia City, Ind., and our subject. 

S. H. Boyd was educated in the public 
schools of Wooster, and in October, 1867, 
at the age of sixteen, entered the employ 
of Zimmerman & Co. as clerk. There he 
remained seventeen years, at the end of 
which time he bought the interest of Mr. 
Donnelly, and entered into his present 
business relations. January 5, 1S76, Mr. 
Boyd was united in marriage with Miss 
Mary, daughter of John Maxwell, and a 
native of Ashland, Ohio. Her father, who 
was a stone-cutter by trade, died in Woos- 
ter in 1870, and her mother, whose name 
was Ann, followed him to the grave in 
November, 187G. Mr. and Mrs. Boyd 
have two children, William and Robert. 

Mr. Boyd is one of Wooster's rising 
young business men, enterprising, saga- 
cious, and of unimpeachable integrity, 
and stands high wherever he is known, 
with a bright future before him. He is 
a member of Ebenezer Lodge, F. & A. M., 
Wooster Chaptei", and of Wayne Council 
of Massillou Commandery, K. T., also of 
the Royal Arcanum ; he is a Republican. 



If 1i ON. HIRAM B. SWARTZ, probate 
|r^ judge of Wayne County, Ohio, was 
Jj — born in a single-roomed log cabin, 
in the woods, on what was known as 
the old home farm of Samuel Swartz, iu 
Milton Township, this county, May 27, 
1816, being fourth in a family of twelve 
j children. His early life, which was s[)ent 
on the farm, was very much that of other 
farmer boys, with nothing special to dis- 
tinguish it, unless it were his uprightness 
in dealing with his school-boy friends, 
and an unconquerable desire to always lead, 
which latter disposition was so plainly 
marked as to win for him the sobriquet of 
"Bully;" not, however, in the sense in 
which the word is usually applied, but 
merely to denote leadership. So closely 
did this appellation cling to him that it 
was afterward inserted as a middle letter in 
his name, and thus is explained the "B" 
which the Judge invariably places iu his 
autograph. 

He remained at home, attending the 
country school, until the winter of 1.S62, 
when he entered the academy at Seville, 
to which he returned in the succeeding 
school season. The winter of 1864 found 
him installed as pedagogue in the dis- 
trict where he himself was first taught, 
and where some five of his own brothers 
and sisters were placed in his charge. 
In the winter of 1865 he went to Gran- 
ville, where he entered upon a college 




^_^^4V'^^^^'^^^^^<^^Z^ 





WAYNE COUNTY. 



251 



preparatory course, aud there remaiued 
until he had completed the Freshman 
year of the classical course. But his 
work having been too incessant, his health 
began to fail, thereby necessitating a 
rest and change of climate, and he re- 
turned to his home. In the fall of 1868, 
having sufficiently recovered, he entered 
the law department of the University of 
Michigan, at Ann Arbor. 

After some months of study in this de- 
partment, and his old desire for a thor- 
ough classical education asserting itself, 
he at once abandoned temporarily the 
law, and entered the literary department 
of the college in January, 1869. Being 
an earnest and devoted student, he found 
he had some time still remaining after 
preparing his lessons for his regular 
classes. This time, however, he did not 
allow to be wasted, but employed it to : 
still further advance himself in his law 
studies, to which be intended ultimately 
to return. Thus earnestly he worked, 
unbeknown to his professors, carrying a 
double load, and many a silent morning 
hour found the earnest student bending 
diligently over his books. Thus he con- 
tinued until, with the class of 1872, he 
graduated from both the literary and 
law departments of the xiniversity, some- \ 
thing contrary to the laws of the institu- 
tion, and only permitted by the special 
permission of the faculty, who, upon in- 



vestigation of his work aud standing, 
found no reason for withholding: their 
consent. This is the only case of the 
kind occurring in the history, of the 
school. 

Both departments of the university aim 
to give their respective students sufficient 
to keep them fully employed. Tedious, 
indeed, and irksome must prove the task 
of him who endeavors to carry, at once, 
both branches of work, even under the 
most favorable circumstances. How much 
more, then, must be the effort, the deter- 
mination, the self-sacrificing zeal of him 
who, like our subject, found it necessary 
to do all manner of manual labor in order 
to secure the requisite funds to enable 
him to pursue his studies, boarding him- 
self, or engineering a boarding club of 
fellow students? Carrying coal, sawing 
wood and similar work, by which he could 
earn a dime, was not beneath his dignity, 
his motto being that " all honest work 
is honorable if well done," and whatever 
he undertook to do he did thoroughly. 
Thus was Mr. Swartz's time fully occu- 
pied, and during his entire college course 
he says he never attended any merry- 
making, concert or festivity of any kind. 
Indeed, time would not have permitted 
him, even had he the disposition. In his 
college work he developed a strong love 
for the languages, and not only did he 
become proficient in them, but even in- 



14 



252 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



structed private pupils in Latin, Greek, 
French and German. 

In 1873, at Newark, Licking Co., Ohio, 
he entered into partnership with his 
brother John, wlio was then also a begin- 
ner, and is now prosecuting attorney of the 
aforesaid county. Here he remained until 
October, 1875, when he removed to Woos- 
ter, and opened an office with Hon. John 
K. McBride. At this time, crippled by pov- 
erty, he found himself compelled to bor- 
row §50 wherewith to pay for moving his 
household goods and family, and, being 
short of work in his chosen profession, he 
dug potatoes on shares to obtain his win- 
ter's food. 

In the spring of 1877, without any 
solicitation on his part, he was elected 
mayor of Wooster, in which capacity he 
served with remarkable success two terms, 
or until 1881. During his incumbency 
he revised the criminal ordinances, and 
had them bound in book form without 
expense to the city, and this book thus 
became the first real code of ordinances the 
city ever had. He was an especial friend 
of the volunteer fire department, and did 
all in his power to advance its interests. 
He also reformed the city prison system, 
and opposed excessive fines, but insisted 
on collecting all fines that were imposed. 
In fact, during his administration the 
people enjoyed one of the best city gov- 
ernments it ever had. Let the praise rest 



where it belongs. His administration 
was " mild but firm,"' and without favor 
or partiality, and under his care the oflice 
of mayor was recognized as one of great 
advantage and dignity, insomuch that 
criminal causes were brought before him 
for trial from all parts of the county. 

During his terms of office as mayor he 
built for himself his present home ; work- 
ing morning and evening before and after 
his business hours, he cut and prepared 
every stick himself, and now has the satis- 
faction of knowing the building is all his 
own handiwork. In 1881 he again en- 
tered a law office, and continued building 
up a good business until 1887, when he 
was elected to the ofiice of pi'obate judge, 
the duties of which he entered upon in 
February, 1888, and has since maintained 
its responsibilities to the satisfaction of 
all. In oflice he has no friends to reward, 
no enemies to punish. His political friends 
are mostly among the common people, and 
by them he is highly esteemed. His po- 
litical victories have been, undoubtedly, 
the result of his singleness of purpose. 
He does no wire-pulling, knows nothing 
of political schemes, and, although very 
successful in his political ventures, he can 
not be called a politician. He has always 
in his political life been a Democrat, and 
since 18(34: has never shrunk from any of 
the party responsibilities laid upon him. 

On August 8, 1873, concluding "it is 



WAYNE COUNTY 



253 



not good for man to be alone," he mar- 
ried Miss Martha J. Davies, of Granville, 
Ohio, daughter of Deacon and Mrs. Daries, 
who came to Granville from Wales in 
1840. Mrs. Swartz is a lady of refine- 
ment and education, having graduated at 
the Young Ladies' Institute, at Granville 
in 1869, being then but seventeen years 
old. At the age of fifteen years she be- 
gan teaching in connection with her 
studies, and later she became a teacher in 
the Granville public schools, where she 
continued until 1873. She cheerfully 
accepted the lot of sharing the life of a 
poor young attorney, and through the 
early years of her husband's practice, 
when fees were few and far between, it 
was her influence that held tlie husband 
steadily to his chosen work against the 
temptations held out by more lucrative 
employments. She is a woman of great 
commanding powers, "a helpmeet in- 
deed," and makes her influence felt at 
home and in the church, she being pres- 
ident of the ladies missionary societies of 
the Baptist Church of Wooster. Five 
children have come of this union, viz. : 
Mary D., born in 1874; Josephine A., in 
1870, died at the age of one year; Wayne 
W., born in 1878; Paul A., in 1884, and 
Esther L., in 1887. The eldest child, 
Mary D., has learned the art of typewrit- 
ing and short-hand, and is a student in 
the Wooster High School. 



In 1866 Judge Swartz united with the 
Baptist Church at Granville, Ohio, since 
which time he has been without intermis- 
sion a Sunday-school superintendent — 
first at Sterling, then at Newark, and for 
the past twelve years at Wooster, during a 
portion of which time he had in his charge 
more than one school, and for twelve 
years at Ann Arbor, Mich., and Wooster, 
he was leader of the choir. The present 
Baptist Church at Sterling, this county, 
is largely the outgrowth of a Sunday- 
school which the Judge established there, 
and led from 1866 to 1872. His religious 
sentiments may be told in a word, viz. : 
" The exaltation of the Bible as the only 
rule of faith and practice, and an entire 
belief in its inspiration." He is a pro- 
found believer in the sovereignty of God, 
and in the security of believers, and pos- 
sesses in consequence no doubts. He re- 
gards his religious obligations as of a 
more binding nature than those of his 
business, and during the last twenty-three 
years he has been absent from scarcely 
a dozen meetings of his church. He was 
chosen deacon of the Baptist Church of 
Wooster in 1876, and is still serving in 
that capacity, being now the senior deacon 
of this church. 

The Judge is a man of marked individ- 
ualities, which some would call peculiar- 
ities. For example, at the beginning of 
each year he adopts mottoes for the en- 



254 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



suing twelve months, and writes them at 

the head of his cash book, so they might 

exert their influence in leading his life 

into conformity. The following may be 

given as a few examples of Judge Swartz's 

rules of life: 

Hard work, well done, a nice wife, and a family 
of children, that's life.— Be kind to everybody.— 
Speak evil of nobody, but against evil everywhere. 
— Be terribly down on wrong. — Don't laugh at any 
sin. — Keep to your work. — Use no trickery. — Al- 
ways be honest with the court, and never misquote 
nor conceal the law.— Never argue a cause you do 
not believe in.— Make God's cause always first.— 
Be a member of no fraternity except the church. — 
Be a faithful Baptist, but know why. — God's com- 
mands first, man's reason afterward.— Push and 
pluck are a strong team.— An ounce of prompt- 
ness is woitb a pound of late work. — Business 
promptly and successfully done, a few honest causes 
well won, is better than a multitude of clients 
and a full purse.— Charge well, but deserve it. 

At the close of each year he writes in a 
diary the results of the year, pointing out 
the line of thoiTght to which he most 
closely conformed. His quiet, even tem- 
perament is due, he thinks, to his close 
observance of these rules, and to his un- 
qualified temperance in all things, phys- 
ical as well as mental. He has never en- 
tered a saloon, theater nor opera-house, 
neither has he spoken a profane word, nor 
tasted tobacco nor liquor. He believes 
man should have absolutely no bad habiis, 
and none can charge him with a viola- 



tion of this stern rule of life; and in his 
life he gives proof by his even and genial 
temper of the value of such a course — 
the temptations usually incident to office 
and office-seeking being no temptation to 
him whatever. He knows very little of 
the ways of the world, and never had a 
desire in that direction. No man has 
ever heard an unkind or abusive word 
from him, and he has a good word for 
everybody. 

In his law practice the Judge has given 
considerable time to the study of the pat- 
ent right laws, and has secured many 
patents, not only for others, but also for 
himself, he being, also, an inventor; one 
of his inventions, a window-sash lock, 
having proved of considerable value to 
him, financially. In the temperance cause 
the Judge became an earnest worker at 
the age of seventeen, at which time he 
began lecturing. He is opposed to the 
principle of license as undemocratic and 
monopolistic and evil in its tendencies. 
He believes in the largest freedom con- 
sistent with the public good. 

Such has been the public, private and 
religious life of the subject of this sketch, 
a man whose inherent tendencies to up- 
rightness, honesty and integrity early 
asserted themselves, and whose success 
has been largely his own making. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



255 




ILBUE D. McCLURE. This 
y rising Toiiug business man of 
"Wooster, of tlie firm of McClure 
& Craighead, is a native of that city, born 
September 12, 1854. His father, Jona- 
than McClure, a native of Lancaster Coun- 
ty, Penn., came in 1825 to Wayne County, 
and here remained some time on land be- 
longing to his father, who had bought a 
large tract near where Wooster now 
stands. His father being a tinner, Jona- 
than learned that trade, having acquired 
which, he established liimself in business 
in partnership with his brother Charles. 
He began business for himself about 1834 
in Wooster, and continued until after the 
close of the war, when he went West, and 
purchased a farm in Missouri, remaining 
tliere, however, but one j ear, when he re- 
turned to Wooster, and, having repur- 
chased his old business, carried it on un- 
til his death, which occurred in May, 
1868, when he was fifty-seven years of 
age. In 1835 Jonathan McClure was 
united in marriage with Martha, daughter 
of Elisha Yocum, and a native of Lancas- 
ter County, Penn. Both her parents died 
in Wayne County, the father in 1860, at 
the age of eighty-nine, and the mother in 
1852. Jonathan and Martha McClure 
had eleven children, of whom eight still 
live (six in Wayne County), viz. : Mary 
A., widow of AVilliam J. Craighead, in 
AVayne County; Catherine, wife of Isaac 



Johnson, of Wooster; Emma, wife of L. 
P. Ohliger, also of Wooster; Charles W., 
AVilbur D. and Lewis Y., all in Wooster; 
Lucetta, now Mrs. W. L. Burr, in Rock- 
ford, 111., and Albert, in Toledo, Ohio. 
Since her husband's decease Mrs. McClure 
has resided in Wooster, and although sev- 
enty-three years of age, enjoys good 
health. Jonathan McClure was a man of 
large acquaintance; he attended strictly 
to his own business, and was universally 
esteemed. He and his wife were members 
of the First Methodist Episcopal Church 
of Wooster. 

W. D. McClure, the subject proper of 
this commemorative record, received his 
education in the public schools of Woos- 
ter, and at the age of sixteen began learn- 
ing the tinning trade with a brother, his 
father having been dead some two years. 
He spent eight years in a large stove 
manufactory in Cleveland, one year in 
Chicago, and in 1883 returned to Wooster, 
where he formed a partnership with his 
nephew, Edwai-d W. Craighead, which he 
has since continued. Their business in- 
cludes plumbing, slating and stoves, and 
is one of the largest in the county. They 
give particular attention to large jobs of 
roofing and plumbing, and do much in 
that line in the city of Wooster. Febru- 
ary 18, 1885, our subject was united in 
marriage with Sarah E., daughter of Jo- 
seph Marshall, l)orn in Plain Township, 



whose parents came from Pennsylvania at 
an early day. Mr. Marshall has for a 
number of years been director of the in- 
firmary. Mr. and Mrs. McClure have one 
child, Joseph. Mr. McClure is a member 
of the K. of M. and of the Iron Hall, and 
for five years was a member of the Woos- 
ter City Guards. He is one of Wooster's 
rising young business men, esteemed by 
all who know him, and has probably a 
bright future before him. 



DAVID THOMAS, a well-known 
citizen of Wayne County, was born 
— November 27, 1827, in that por- 
tion of the county which was afterward 
made a part of Ashland County. He is 
a son of John and Catherine (Baker) 
Thomas, the former of whom was of 
German descent, and both were born in 
Pennsylvania. In search of a home, John 
migrated across the mountains by team, 
with his wife and the children then born 
to them. The journey was tedious and 
dangerous, and was made doubly sad to 
them by an accident. An infant daughter 
fell from the wagon, was run over and 
killed, and the bereaved parents were 
compelled to bury her body by the road- 
side. One year after arriving in Wayne 
County, Mr. Thomas bought the farm 
where David was born. Like so many 



of the early settlers of the county, Mr. 
Thomas did not live manj' years after 
coming to it The hardships incident to 
the life of the pioneer and the ex- 
tremely arduous labor necessary were 
not favorable to a long life. Another 
cause which undoubtedly hastened Mr. 
Thomas' death was the amputation of a 
leg, which he had crushed in the first 
horse-power threshing machine ever 
brought into the county. He died in 
1837, at the age of fifty-two, and until 
1880 his widow continued to live upon 
the farm, awaiting the summons to join 
him, which came when she was eighty- 
three years of age. They had eight 
children, and David Thomas has now two 
brothers and two sisters living, viz. : 
Michael and John, both residents of Ash- 
land County, Ohio; Mrs. William Piper, 
of Chester To^vIlship, this county, and 
Mrs. George Grindle, of Ashland City. 

David Thomas spent his early years 
upon the place of his birth, getting such 
education as was afforded by the schools 
of that day. When about twenty years 
old he began clerking in a store in New 
Pittsburgh, continuing in that occupation 
until his marriage, which took place in 
1856, his bride being Miss Lizzie A. 
Norton, a native of Wayne County, and 
daughter of Benjamin and Catherine 
Norton, former of whom died in Chester 
Township. After his marriage Mr. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



25 



01 



Thomas established himself iu business 
ut Keedsbiirgh, Wayue County, iu a gen- 
eral store, and there remained twelve 
years. Later he bought a farm iu Ches- 
ter Towuship, which he worked for twelve 
years more, and then retired from the active 
labors of life. In 1883 he, with his 
family, removed to the comfortable house 
in Wooster which has since been his 
home. The marriage of our siibject and 
wife has been blessed by the birth of 
tliree children: Alice Isadore, now Mrs. 
C. M. Tawney, of Wooster, Ohio; Nor- 
ton Emmett (deceased) and Daisy, living 
with her parents. 

Mr. Thomas is a highly respected citi- 
zen of the city and county, and has always 
been a hearty supporter of all right proj- 
ects for its upbuilding. He is au ardent 
advocate of the cause of temperance, and 
several times has been the candidate of 
the Prohibition party for county offices. 
He is au affiliate of the Masonic fraternity 
and a member of the English Lutheran 
Church of Wooster. 



AMUEL MITCHELL. This old 
resident of Wayne County is a sou 
of one of its early pioneers, and 
was born in Franklin Township, Septem- 
ber 20, 1820. His grandfather, Jesse 
Mitchell, was a i-esident of Franklin 



County, Penn., and was of Irish extrac- 
tion. Iu this latter county our subject's 
father, Samuel Mitchell, was boru, aud 
was there married to Miss Mary Mc- 
Gugeu, by whom he had four children: 
Jesse, who died iu February, 1839; Cyn- 
thia, who passed from earth iu 1818; 
Maria, wife of John McClellau, of Woos- 
ter, and Samuel. 

In 1812 Samuel Mitchell, Sr., came to 
Wayne County, to make a home iu the 
then uew West. The Indians proved so 
hostile, however, that, after bui-yiug his 
farming tools, etc., he returned to Penn- 
sylvania. In 1813 he came back to 
Wooster, where at that time but three 
families were living. He had left his 
cows to run wild on going away, and it 
was with great difficulty they were found. 
The laud was wild aud totally unim- 
proved, but, building a log cabin, the 
brave pioneers toiled to make a home 
aud rear a family. Both the parents 
lived to an old age, each being eighty- 
seven years old at time of death. The 
father passed away in 186-1, aud the 
mother in 1869. These grand and brave 
old pioneers were of the right material 
for this new and wild country, aud did 
the work necessary to develoji its re- 
sources, and to lay the foundation of its 
present prosperity, which is due to such 
as they. Mr. Mitchell was trusted and 
relied upon by his fellow-pioneers, aud 



258 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



was by them elected a uumber of times 
township trustee. For a uumber of years, 
also, he held a commission as justice of 
the peace. He was a member of the 
United Presbyterian Church, and his wife 
of the Presbyterian Chui'ch, and both 
were well known and greatly respected by 
their compeers. 

Samuel Mitchell, our subject, was born 
a pioneer's child, and in his youth had 
to endure the hardships and trials of those 
early days. His only educational facili- 
ties were such as were to be obtained in 
the lo^ school-house of the day, so famil- 
iar to the children of the early settlers. 
But these old cabins turned out a sturdy 
race of men and women, well fitted to 
cope with the difficulties of life in a new 
country. In 1849 Mr. Mitchell was united 
in marriage with Miss Mary A., daughter 
of John and Nancy McClellan, whose his- 
tory is given on another page in this 
volume. She was born in Wooster, but 
when a child her parents removed to a 
farm six miles from that place, later go- 
ing to Xenia, Ohio, where she met and 
married Mr. Mitchell. After their mar- 
riage they came to his father's old home- 
stead in this county, and there made their 
home until 18G8, when they removed to 
Wooster, where they have since lived. 
They have no children, but in the Mitchell 
family lives Miss Sarah Preston, who has 
been a member of the family since 1824, 



when she was a girl of ten years of age. 
Her grandfather, William Nixon, was one 
of the first residents of Franklin Town- 
ship, and her father, William Preston, 
and her mother, nee Ruth Nixon, both 
died when the daughter was a little girl, 
the father in 1820, the mother in 1827. 
Both Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell are mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian Church. Tiiey 
have during their lives witnessed many 
changes in this part of the country. He 
has often heard his mother tell of being 
alone in their cabin with l)er two little 
children while the Indians were prowling 
around, and no fastening on their door; 
but by keeping quiet and concealed, the 
red-skins supposed the cabin to be empty 
and passed on. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell 
are to-day among the oldest settlers in the 
county, in which they have hosts of friends 
whose good wishes attend them through 
life, and none are more deserving than 
they of a place in this work. 



DAVID N. SMITH is a son of James 
and Keziah (McCullough) Smith, 
natives of W^ashington County, 

Penn., who came to Wayne County, Ohio, 
in 1820, and entered a quarter section and 
a one-half section of land near Jackson, 
in Canaan Township. The father of 
James Smith, a native of Ireland, settled 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



259 



iu Washingtou Couuty, Peuu., where 
James was boru iu 1791. The latter came 
to Wayne County poor, and experienced 
all the hardships of the early pioneer. 
Through perseverance and economy, how- 
ever, he accumulated a large property, 
and was in every sense a self-made man, 
recognized as one of the prominent farmers 
of Canaan Township. In politics he was 
a Democrat, iu which party he always 
took an active interest, and was identified 
with the Presbyterian Church of Jackson 
for many years. He died in 1875, his 
wife in 1863. They reared a family of 
nine children, viz. : Elizabeth, "William, 
Adam and Samuel (all deceased) j Mar- 
garet, widow of "William P^oot ; Mary Ann, 
wife of O. A. Frary, of Canaan Townshijj, 
Wayne County ; David N. ; Kebecca, wife 
of Samuel Slemmons, of Milton Township, 
Wayne County; Martha, a maiden lady. 

The subject of this memoir was born on 
the homestead in Canaan Townshij), 
Wayne County, February 17, 1830, and 
received his education at the schools of 
the township. He has always followed 
farming for his life's vocation. In 1863 
he married Miss Mary A., daughter of 
Emanuel Northrup, of Medina County, 
Ohio, and she died in January, 1879, 
leaving two children: De Forest, who lives 
on the homestead farm, married to Ida, 
daughter of George Mathes, of Canaan 
Township, Wayne County, and Clyde, at 



home. Mr. Smith has always been a 
Democrat in politics, and has served as 
school director of the township for eight 
years. He is a member of Canaan Grange 
No. 1280, P. of H., and is a prominent 
member of the Jackson Presbyterian 
Church, of which he is trustee. 

William Foot (deceased) was born in 
Connecticut, November 17, 1807, and died 
October 4, 1888. About 1844 he came to 
Wayne County, and entered a store at 
Jackson as clerk. He afterward purchased 
the business, which he conducted for many 
years. He was a Eepublicau in politics, 
and postmaster of Jackson for several 
years. In 1863 he married Miss Mar- 
garet Smith, and by her had four children : 
Joseph Mclntire in Missouri; Amanda, 
now Mi's. William Wallace, in Iowa; Will- 
iam, in Knox County, Ohio, and Alice, 
now Mrs. Harry Covert, in Nebraska. 



E 



DWARD M. GRANT was born on 
the homestead in Sugar Creek 
Township, Stark Co., Ohio, May 
31, 1834, and is a son of Joseph and 
Margaret (Crawford) Grant. George 
Grant, the grandfather of Edward M.. 
was a native of New Jersey, where Joseph 
Grant was born. The latter was brought 
when two yearsold to Washington County, 
Penn., where he was reared, and where 



260 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



his parents died. lu April, 1834, he came 
to the western part of Stark County, and 
located on a tract of one-fourth section of 
land adjoining Wayne County, where he 
lived until his death, he being seventy-six 
years of age. His wife was born in 1800, 
and died in 1878. Fifteen children were 
born to them, of whom those who grew to 
maturity were "William C, of Stark Coun- 
ty, Ohio; Jeremiah, late of Emporia, Kas., 
and who died June 17, 1889; Kebecca, 
widow of William N. Lash, of Stark 
County, Ohio; Kaziah (deceased) ; Cassie 
Jane (deceased) ; Jesse, of Stark County; 
John Austin, of Aftou, Union Co., Iowa; 
Malissa, of Osceola, Clarke Co., Iowa; 
Alonzo, on the homestead, and Edward M. 
On November 25, 1857, the subject of 
this memoir married Miss Parmelia, 
daughter of Christopher Harrold, of 
Holmes County, Ohio, and in 1863 they 
moved onto their present farm in East 
Union Township, Wayne County. Mr. 
Grant votes the Kepublican ticket, and is 
an elder in the Presbyterian Church of 
Apple Creek. He has always followed 
farming. 



If AMES BAKER KEYS, now a resi- 
i^ I dent of Shreve, was born on the 

-^ Keys farm, one-half mile west of the 
village, March 6, 1862. He owns and 
manages a large lauded estate, which he 



inherited from his father, William H. 
Keys, and his grandfather, James Keys. 
For several years he was owner and man- 
ager of the Shreve Roller Mills, which, 
during the last year, he sold, and is now 
looking after the interests of bis farms. 
He is a young man of good business 
habits and a blameless life, and is a much 
esteemed citizen. He was married, Octo- 
ber 9, 1883, to Sadie, daughter of the late 
Albert Richardson, a successful merchant 
of Shreve, and they have two children — 
William Albert and James Brown. 

William H. Keys, father of James Baker 
Keys, was born in Beallsville, Washington 
Co., Penn., October 19, 1820, and died in 
Shreve, Wayne Co., Ohio, July 18, 1871. 
No other man who ever lived in Clinton 
Township filled with more dignity his 
place, or played with better grace the role 
of a Christian gentleman, good neighbor 
and faithful citizen, than did this plain, 
ingenuous farmer. It was the privilege 
of the writer to have been associated with 
him as schoolfellow, then as his teacher, 
and for many years thereafter as neigh- 
bor, patron and intimate friend, and in all 
these relations he found him the same 
quiet, companionable, trustworthy man. 
Though of positive opinions, such was his 
deference toward the feelings of others 
that he was never known to give offense 
to those with whom he differed in opinion. 
At one of his winter schools, which the 



WAYNE COUNT V. 



2G1 



writer attended, he found some of the 
boys remaining at home because they had 
no pants, except patched ones, to wear. 
Mr. Keys visited them, and agreed with 
the boys that if they would attend school 
in their old clothes he would wear a pair 
of patched pantaloons too, which, though 
the only son of one of the wealthiest men 
of the neighborhood, he did for the entire 
term. We mention this incident as illus- 
trative of the character of the man. 
Throughout his life he sympathized with 
the struggling poor. Though at no time 
did he own much property in Shreve, yet 
he and his father, James Keys, were 
essentially the founders of the town. 
Their first donation was $450, for the pur- 
chase of ground for a road directly west 
from the town. Then they gave some- 
thing near $500 for the first church. 
During the war they paid out about SI, 200 
to save the township from excessive draft, 
and almost the last act of their lives was 
a generous donation of $1,700 for the 
building of the present Methodist Church ; 
and many were their minor gifts to almost 
every enterprise started in the then strug- 
gling village. The chief source of their 
accumulations was from sheep husbandry. 
For more than thirty years they followed 
their (juiet flocks, and from them they 
reaped the reward that usually follows 
constant, well-directed effort in a single 
direction. William H. Keys was married, 



May 5, 1842, to Eliza Ann Baker, daugh- 
ter of William and Margaret Baker, of 
Millbrook. The late Dr. T. H. Baker, of 
Wooster, was a brother of Mrs. William 
Keys. Mrs. Keys was born in Hunterdon 
County, N. J., October 5, 1825. She is 
still living, a resident of Shreve. 

James Keys, grandfather of James 
Baker Keys, was born in County Ferman- 
agh, Ireland, June 7, 1797, and was 
brought to this counti-y when a child, his 
people settling in Washington County, 
Penn. He was married September 30, 
1819, at Beallsville, Penn., to Mary Beall, 
niece of the late Gen. Zejjhauiah Beall, of 
Wooster, and soon after their marriage 
they immigrated to Stark County, Ohio, 
but soon after exchanged their Stark 
County land for a half section of land in 
Clinton Township, Wayne County, whither 
they moved about 1825. James Keys 
died August 10, 1869, on the homestead 
farm. His wife survived him seven 
years, dying in the same house, August 
25, 1876. In all the pioneer operations 
of the township James Keys was an 
active participant. At the log rollings 
and cabin raisings of those primitive days 
his pleasant face and cheerful voice 
^dded their full influence to these rough 
but interesting: entertainments. His last 
years were pleasantly spent on the farm 
made valuable and comfortable by the 
labor of his own hands. He lived and 



262 



ivAVXE coiwry. 



died an honorable citizen, and will long 
be remembered as a warm-hearted, benev- 
olent and generous man. 



CHARLES W. McCLURE, of Woos- 
ter, is a son of Jonathan McClure, 
one of the pioneers of Wayne 
County (of whom mention is made in 
sketch of Wilbur D. McClure), and was 
born in Wooster Township, December 27, 
1841. His early education was received 
in the schools of that township, and in the 
winters from 1856 to 1861 he taught school 
there. He afterward attended school in 
AVooster, intending to finish his educa- 
tion in the Ohio Wesleyan College, of 
Delaware, but the outbreak of the Rebell- 
ion changed his plans. On A[)ril 16, 
1861, he responded to the first call for 
volunteers, and enlisted in Company E, 
Fourth Ohio Infantry, and was speedily 
at the front. The first call being only 
for three-months men, he re-enlisted in 
June of that year for three years, and 
served the full time. He participated in 
many of the great battles of the war — 
was at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the 
AVilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, 
Cold Harbor, and in many minor en- 
gagements. He was fortunate enough 
to escape wounds, and never had any 
serious illness while in the service, being 



always able for duty. He was honorably 
discharged in June, 1864, and returned 
to Wayne County. 

Before going to the war he had learned 
the stove and tinware business, and 

' worked at that with his father until the 
latter's death, in 1868. He then continued 
for himself until 1872, when he engaged 
as a commercial traveler for a Cleveland 
and Cincinnati firm, with whom he re- 
mained until 1879. He then returned to 
Wooster, and until 1887 carried on busi- 
ness for himself on South Market Street. 
In the latter year he formed a partnership 
with A. G. Coover, the firm dealing in 
stoves, tinware and house furnishing 
goods, and doing the largest business in 
that line of any house in the county. In 
1864, soon after his return from the army, 
he was united in marriage with Rebecca, 
daughter of A. and Rebecca Saybolt, na- 

j tives of Pennsylvania, who still reside in 
Wooster. This union was blessed by the 
birth of six children. The second child, 
Charles D., died in childhood, in 1868. 
The others are all yet under the parental 
roof, and are Emma T., George M., John 
S., Florence E. and Glenn E. 

Politically Mr. McClure is a Repub- 
lican, and socially is a member of the 
Knights of Honor and the Grand Army 
of the Rejjublic. He has made his own 
success in life, and is a man of whom all 
speak in terms of respect as a worthy 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



263 



citizen and a merchant of strict integrity. 
All of the family hold a high place in the 
community, ami are much esteemed. 



r^ EORGE EMERY, sou of Jacob and 
I fi' Christina (Lesh) Emery,wasborniu 
^^1 what is now Ashland County, Ohio, 
in 1840. His grandfather, Jacob 
Emery, was a resident of that county, and 
there reared a family of five children, 
four daughters and one son. The parents 
of George Emery were also residents of 
Ashland County, where they were en- 
gaged in farming. Their family con- 
sisted of Franklin M. (who married Lydia 
Ortz, now residents of Nebraska), Mary 
(deceased), John (deceased), George, 
Zachariah (who married Margaret Wikle, 
now residents of Ashland County, Oliio), 
and Violet (now Mrs. A. J. Houser, of 
Wayne County, Ohio). 

Of these, George Emery was reared and 
educated in Wayne County, and in Sep- 
tember, 1861, in response to his country's 
call for men, he enlisted in Company C, 
Sixteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. At 
the battle of Chickasaw Bluffs he received 
a wound, which disabled him, and for 
this reason he was discharged, and now 
receives a pension; he however re-enlisted 
in the 100-days service. Returning home, 
Mr. Emery married in 1865 Mary A., 



daughter of John Ginn, and located on 
a farm in Clinton Township, Wayne 
County, Ohio, their present residence. To 
them two children were born, Elizabeth 
Ellen (deceased) and Isa B. The family 
are members of the Evangelical Church. 
Mr. Emery is identified with the Repub- 
lican party. He is a practical farmer, 
and has very desirable property. 



dfOHN SHILLING was born in Cum- 
berland County, Penn., February 14, 
1814. His father, Adam Shilling, 
also a native of that county, married 
Mary Roone, and in 1817 moved to Stark 
County, Ohio, where they purchased land 
near Massillon, and engaged in farming, 
being among the representative citizens 
of that county. They were prominent 
members of the United Brethren Church. 
The mother died there in 1858. The fa- 
ther afterward moved to Indiana, where 
he died in 1881, at the patriarchal age of 
nearly ninety years. Their family con- 
sisted of eight children, six of whom are 
living, viz. : John; Polly, now Mrs. George 
Houke, of Indiana; Barbara Ann, wife of 
William Kitzermeller, of Stark County, 
Ohio; Solomon, in Indiana; Daniel, in 
Stark County; Eliza, wife of Daniel Gratz, 
of Bryan, Ohio. 

John Shilling, the subject of this 



memoir, was reared in Stark Couuty, 
Ohio, aiul obtaiued but little education, 
as he had to walk three miles to school, 
and was in constant danger from wolves 
and Indians. He remained on the home- 
stead until twenty-two years of age. On 
October 30, 1834, he became united in 
marriage with Miss Sarah, daughter of 
John Noftzger, of Congress Township, 
Wayne County, and she bore him three 
children, viz.: Mary, wife of Ezra Smith, 
of Canaan Township (they have two chil- 
dren, Lorinda, now Mrs. George Hurd, 
who has one child, Ezra, and Franklin 
Smith, in Canaan Township) ; Adam, in 
Canaan Township, married to Maria, 
<lautrhter of Jesse Eitchie, of Medina 
County (they have one son, Jesse) ; Mel- 
vina, wife of John Cook, of Canaan Town- 
ship (they have two children, William 
and Annie). The mother of these chil- 
dren died in 1840, and in 1841 the father 
married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of 
George Frank, of Stark Couuty, Ohio. 
She died March 9, 1878, having borne 
him three children, viz. : Emma, deceased 
wife of William Brinkerhoff; Frank, a 
farmer in Congress Township, Wayne 
County, married to Mary Keiser (they 
have two children, William and Nellie) ; 
Ada, married to Daniel Stratton, of Me- 
dina County (they have two children, 
Blanche and Ira). Mr. Shilling is a 
prominent member of the Burbank United 



Brethren Church. He has always voted 
the Republican ticket, and has filled va- 
rious township offices. He moved onto 
his present farm, in Canaan Township, in 
the year 1835, and by hard work and 
perseverance has been successful, being 
now one of the leading farmers of the 
township. 



GHARLES E. VAN METER, through 
his grandparents on both sides, is 
^-' descended from the earliest pio- 
neer settlers of Wayne County. His pa- 
ternal grandparents, Abraham and Sarah 
(Miller) Van Meter, came, in 1815, from 
Stark County, Ohio, to this county, bring- 
ing their children with them. Benjamin 
Miller, father of Mrs. Sarah Van Meter, 
was one of the very first settlers of Wayne 
Couuty, and her sister, Mrs. Matilda 
Briarton, was the first white child born in 
the cottnty. Grandmother Van Meter died 
in 1862, aged seventy-six, and grandfather 
Van Meter in 1870, aged eighty-seven. 

John Van Meter, father of our subject, 
was born in Stark County, Ohio, in 1812, 
and was three years old when his parents 
brought him to this couuty. He learned 
in his youth the trade of a carpenter, and 
after he had grown to manhood was mar- 
ried to Elizabeth Van Blunk McGuire, n 
native of PennsA'lvania. She was left an 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



265 



orphan when two years of age, auil was 
reared by an uncle, Mr. Isaac Johnson, 
father of Judge Isaac Johnson. Five boys 
were born to tliis union, all now living, 
viz.: W. C, in Wayne County; John W., 
in Colorado Cit}*, Colo. ; C. E. ; George 
A., in Butte City, Mont., and Walter, in 
Wooster. The parents are yet living, in 
Wooster, and have many friends. They 
are regarded as good, upright j^eople, and 
highly respected. 

The subject of this sketch entered the 
profession of dentistry, but followed it for 
a few months only, and then opened a 
grocery store in Wooster, which he car- 
ried on for some years. Later, for some 
five years, he was clerk in a shoe store, 
and in 1885 he opened a shoe store for 
his own account, which he is at present 
carrying on. September 29, 1875, he was 
united in marriage with Miss Nettie, 
daughter of James and Ellen (Higgins) 
Hutchison, and a native of Mount Vernon, 
Ohio, and educated at Mount Carmel, 
N. Y. Her mother died when she was 
nine mouths old, and her father was again 
married; when Mrs. Van Meter was ten 
years of age both her father and step- 
mother died. Her father was born in 
Fredericksburgh, this county, in 1822, 
and was of Scotch descent, his ancestors 
settling in this county at an early day. 
Her grandmother, Mary Higgins, is liv- 
ing in Athens, Ohio, and is ninety years 



of age. Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Van 
Meter have been blessed by the birth of 
three children: Joseph Leroy, Jennie 
Viola and Susie Florence. The parents 
are members of the Order of the Iron 
Hall, and members of St. James Episcopal 
Church. Mr. Van Meter is well known 
in Wooster and vicinity as a progressive 
and enterprising business man, of strict 
integrity, who has gained the confidence 
of people by his straightforward conduct, 
and is liberally patronized. He has made 
his own way, and, although still a young 
man, his success has been gratifying. 



ILAS W. OGDEN was born in Dela- 
ware County, Ohio, August 26, 
1848, and when he was but five 
years of age came with his parents to 
Wayne County. His father, Donald W. 
Ogden, was also a native of Delaware 
County, and was a farmer and cabinet- 
maker; he was married to Miss Mary A., 
daughter of John W. C. Nimmous. In 1858 
Mr. 8. W. Ogden's parents settled in 
Wayne County, one mile south of Woos- 
ter, where the father died in 1861, at the 
age of forty-eight years. He was a stanch 
Republican, and held the office of assessor; 
both he and his wife were members of the 
Presbyterian Church. They were the 
parents of three children, as follows: 



266 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Lowell, who died when a child; James A., 
iu Wooster, and Silas W. Since her hus- 
band's death Mrs. Ogden has made her 
home with her children, and is now living 
with her son, the subject of this sketch. 

Silas W. Ogden remained at home until 
September 21, 1870, when he was united 
in marriage with Miss Frances M., daugh- 
ter of John and Catharine (Espy) Weav- 
er, and a native of De Kalb County, Ind. 
Mrs. Weaver was the mother of two chil- 
dren: William C, in Wooster, and Fran- 
ces Marian. Mrs. Weaver was a highly 
esteemed member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church of Wooster for twenty-five 
or thirty years. After their marriage Mr. 
and Mrs. S. W. Ogden resided in Woos- 
ter until 1884, when they removed to 
their present home in Wooster Township. 
Mr. Oeden was a tinner until he removed 
to his farm, and in 1882 was appointed 
a railway postal clerk, serving four 
months, when he resigned on account of 
ill health. He has always been a stanch 
Republican, and is a member of the Royal 
Arcanum; was also a member of the 
Kniehts of Honor. Both he and his wife 
are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church of Wooster, in which they are 
highly esteemed for their earnestness and 
active participation in church work. They 
are widely known in Wayne County, and 
universally beloved and respected. 

Jacob B. Espy, grandfather of Mrs. 



Ogden, was born iu Bucks County, Penn., 
in 17'.t0, and died in 1881, in his ninety- 
first year. He w-as a soldier in the War 
of 1812, serving in the Ohio regiment 
commanded by Col. Bay. Mrs. Ogdeu"s 
paternal grandfather, David Weaver, was 
a native of Pennsylvania, and died in 
Rowsburg, Ohio. Reuben I. Tarr, a great- 
uncle of Mrs. Ogden, was an early settler 
in Wayne County, and carried on the 
pottery business, later purchasing the 
farm now owned by Mr. Ogden. He was 
born in 1801, and died iu 1882. He came 
to Wayne County in 1818, and made his 
home with his sister, Mrs. Catharine Espy. 
Reynolds Espy, a brother of Mrs. Cath- 
arine Weaver, was born at Mt. Eaton, and 
died January 8, 1884, on the old homestead. 



PjETER S. GREEN AMYER, M. U.. 
mayor of Smithville, Ohio, is a 
native of Columbiana, in the county 
of the same name, in this State, and was 
born May 2, 1836. On his father's side 
his ancestors were of German extraction, 
his great-grandmother, who was a Miss 
Wyse, having come from that country. 
She was sent to America for the benefit 
of her health, and on the voyage hither 
became acquainted with a fellow traveler 
named Geiger, whom she married after 
her arrival at New Amsterdam, as New 



f"^^ 



<?s^ 



■^^vti 



r' 



^^^ii-«V. 





S^. J. 4. 



^yhL./yyU'G.-^l-f^ 



JLA , t^, Uj, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



269 



York was then called. She was connected 
with one of the royal families of Ger- 
many, and had two brothers, both of 
whom were unmarried, and were enor- 
mously wealthy. One of these brothers 
willed his entire estate, valued then at 
seventy-two millions of dollars, to the de- 
scendants of his sister of the third gen- 
eration, of whom Dr. Greenamyer's father 
was one. 

The notice of distribution was published 
at the proper time in Germany, about 
1S80, but unfortunately did not become 
known in this country until after the lapse 
of a considerable time. When it did be- 
come known, efforts were at once made 
to complete the chain of evidence estab- 
lishing relationship, and when this was 
accomplished an agent was sent to Eiirope 
to present the claims of the American 
heirs. The distribution had already taken 
place, however, by order of the German 
Government, which refused to change it, 
and thus the American heirs got no part 
of their just claims. Mrs. Geiger died in 
this country, and was buried in New 
Amsterdam. After a lapse of about 150 
years, in the efforts to complete the evi- 
dence as to her identity, her grave was 
opened, and parts of the royal robes in 
which she was buried were found intact. 
She left a family of three daughters and 
two sons. One of the daughters married 
Solomon Greenamyer, and thus became 

IS 



the grandmother of our subject. Her hus- 
band was a resident of Columbiana 
County, this State, where many of their 
descendants yet live, and where he held 
the office of justice of the peace for over 
fifty years. He died of diphtheria, about 
twenty years ago, in his eighty-sixth year. 
His wife had died about twenty-five years 
prior to that time. They had six sons and 
six daughters, of whom three sons and 
four daughters are yet living, viz. : David, 
a retired farmer, living in Michigan; 
Enos, a [)racticing physician of Palestine, 
Penn. ; Jehu, a farmer of Michigan; Sarah, 
wife of Daniel Staiiffer, a merchant of 
Columbiana, Ohio; Eliza, who married a 
Mr. Heck, a farmer of Columbiana County ; 
Charlotte, wife of Israel Long, a wealthy 
farmer in Pennsylvania, across the line 
from Columbiana County, and Mary, wife 
of Rev. Samuel Sechrist, of Akron, Ohio. 
William, the father of our subject, who 
was the eldest of the family, was born at 
the old homestead in Columbiana County, 
August 29, 1808, and died in Smith- 
ville, Wayne County, July 31, 1860. In 
his early life he taught school, but after- 
ward read medicine, and began practice 
in his native county, removing to Woos- 
ter, Ohio, in 1846, and the following year 
settling in Smithville, where he was en- 
gaged in the practice of his profession 
until his death. He rapidly made friends 
in his chosen home, and became known as 



270 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



a successful and liiglily esteemed pliysi- 
cian. As a Christian man and good citi- 
zen lie was greatly respected, and his 
death was mourned. by a large circle of 
friends, to whom his many good qualities 
had greatly endeared him. He was for 
many years a member of the German 
Reformed Church, of which he had long 
been a deacon, and was a consistent Chris- 
tian, who fully believed iu Him who 
" doeth all things well," and met death as 
only such a one can. He was married, in 
1832, to Miss Maria Strickler, who was 
born iu Page County, Va., in 1809. She 
went with her parents, while young, to 
Columbiana County, Ohio, and there met 
her future husband. Her father was of 
Scotch descent, and her mother of Ger- 
man. She also died in Smithville, on 
December 15, 1873, aged over sixty-four 
years. She was a faithful wife and a de- 
voted mother, and an exemplary Chris- 
tian — a worthy helpmeet to her husband. 
They were the parents of two sons and 
one daughter. The younger sou, Solo- 
mon, is a veterinary surgeon at Ashland, 
Ohio; the daughter, Isabella, is the wife 
of John E. Zimmerman, of Smithville, 
and the eldest is Peter S. 

The subject of this sketch was eleven 
years of age when his parents removed to 
Smithville, where he received his com- 
mon-school education. This was supple- 
mented by a paitial course at Oberlin 



College. Leaving there, he read medicine 
under his father, and later attended the 
Eclectic Medical College at Cincinnati, 
where he graduated in March, 1858. He 
then engaged iu practice iu partnership 
with his father, continuing until the lat- 
ter's death. A year later his uncle, Enos, 
became his partner, this relation continu- 
ing for four 3^ears, during which time Dr. 
Greeuamyer attended Jefferson Medical 
College, Philadelphia, graduating in 
March, 1872. He has since been contin- 
uously engaged in the practice of his pro- 
fession at Smithville, building up a large 
and lucrative business, and is universally 
recognized as a conscientious and skillful 
physician and surgeon, having studied 
the latter branch of his profession under 
the celebrated Prof. Paucoast, of Phila- 
delphia. On September 30, 1803, Dr. 
Greeuamyer was married to Miss Eugenia 
Gertrude Christy, who was born May 10, 
1844, in Jackson, Wayne County. Her 
parents were James and Roxana Christy, 
both of whom are now deceased. They 
wez'e farmers iu this county for many 
years, Mr. Christy being a noted stock 
raiser and dealer. He was a native of 
Wayne Count}', of Irish extraction, and 
his wife was born iu the State of New 
York. Dr. and Mrs. Greeuamyer have 
one child. Homer B., now seventeen years 
of age, who graduated in the class of '88 
from the Northern Ohio Normal School, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



271 



and intends studying pliarmacy, but is 
now teacher of stenograplij' at his Alma 
Mater. 

Dr. Greenamyer has always taken a 
warm interest in the affairs of his town. 
In April, 1888, he was elected mayor of 
Smithville, receiving all but three of the 
votes cast, a good illustration of the 
esteem of his fellow-citizens. He is a 
member of the Wayne County Medical 
Society, of the Northeastern Ohio Medi- 
cal Society, of the Ohio State Medical 
Society, and also of the American Medi- 
cal Society. He belongs to the Odd 
Fellows order and to the Knights of tiie 
Maccabees. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican. As a physician, a citizen and neigh- 
bor, the Doctor is in the front rank of the 
citizens of Wayne County. 




ILLIAM EMMETT GEOEGE, 

\\I\JJ of the firm of George & Co., 
cabinet-makers and undertakers, 
and manufacturers of furniture, having 
the largest and most complete establish- 
ment of the kind in Wayne County, Ohio, 
of which he is a native, was born January 
8, 1835. His father, John George, was a 
native of Columbiana County, Ohio, and 
by occupation a carpenter. He was mar- 
ried, in Wooster, to Eliza Smith, whose 
father was one of tiie first settlers in that 



place, both of her {parents dying in Wayne 
County. To Mr. and Mrs. John George 
five children were born, as follows: Two 
deceased in infancy; Anna Yiola, wife of 
Calvin Van Nimmons, of Shreve, Wayne 
County; William Emmett, and John 
Franklin, a resident of Wooster. The 
mother was called to her rest in June, 
1888, at the age of sixty-four years, and 
since then the father has resided in Woos- 
ter, and is now sixty-five years of age. 

The subject of this sketch has passed 
his entire life in Wooster, where he re- 
ceived a good schooling. While still a 
boy he turned his attention to cabinet- 
making, and in 1880 formed a partner- 
ship with William Y. Landis, which con- 
tinued until 18S8. During this time the 
business was greatly enlarged, so as to in- 
clude furniture and undertaking, and now 
furniture manufacturing, and is at present 
the largest in the county. For some 
years after learning his trade Mr. George 
worked in various places, and was em- 
ployed in an organ manufactory, in car- 
building shops, etc. In 1875 he was 
united in marriage with Miss Lydia 
Easier, a native of Pennsylvania, whose 
parents early migrated to Ohio, where the 
father died. The mother is now living at 
Western Star, near Akron, Ohio. To tiiis 
union one child, John Irvin, has been born. 

Mr. George started in business without 
a dollar, and liis gratifying success is 



27 '2 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



wlioll)' (lup to his close application and 
l)usiness ability. He has advanced him- 
self to an honorable place among the 
leading business men of Wooster, and is 
regarded as one of the best of its citizens, 
honored and respected by all. He is pro- 
gressive and enterprising, and in favor of 
all good projects for the advancement of 
the county. He and his wife are members 
of the Lutheran Church at Wooster. 




S. BATTLES, M. D., for fifty- 
nine years a resident of Clinton 
Township, Wayne County, was 
born at White Hall Station, near Phila- 
delphia, Penn., May 12, 1827. His 
mother was of pure English extraction, 
descending horn two old well-known 
Quaker families, Snowden and West. 
His father, Thomas S. Battles, for twenty- 
nine years a resident of the county, and 
still living at the age of eighty-seven 
years, was born in Philadelphia, January 
28, 1803. On the paternal side he was 
descended fi-om an old Pittsfield (Mass.) 
family; his mother was a native of Scot- 
land. His residence is now, and has been 
since 1861, on a farm in Montgomery 
County, 111., where his two other sons, 
Johnston and Thomas, with two daugh- 
ters, children of his second wife, also 



live. Dr. W. S. Battles remained with 
his father on a Clinton Township farm un- 
til he was nineteen years old, having had 
no other educational advantages save 
what the common schools of his neigh- 
borhood furnished. During the summer 
of 18-46 he spent seventeen weeks at the 
Hayesville school, in Ashland County. On 
August 7, 18i7, he entered the office of 
Di". T. H. Baker, of Millbrook, as a stu- 
dent of medicine, and throughout almost 
the entire time of his medical student- 
ship with his preceptor he taught school. 
October 15, 1850, he matriculated at 
Starling Medical College, Columbus, 
Ohio, at which school he graduated Febru- 
ary 22, 1852. Returning to the village 
of Millbrook, he engaged in the practice 
of medicine with his preceptor until the 
winter of 1853-54, which he spent at the 
colleges and hospitals of Philadelphia, 
New York and Cleveland. Dissolving 
partnership with Dr. Baker, he went to 
Apple Creek, East Union Township, 
April 19, 1855, but remained there only 
eight months, when he removed to Shreve, 
where he has pursued the i)ractice of 
medicine and surgery ever since, except- 
ing from November, 1865, to March, 
1868, when he was engaged in banking at 
Ashland, Ashland Co., Ohio. November 
20, 1855, he was married to Maliala 
Keister, daughter of J. A. Keister, Esq., 
of Millbrook. He has two living chii- 



WAYNE COUNT V. 



273 



dren, Mrs. Kate Browu aud Emma Bat- 
tles. Although the Doctor is interested 
in horticulture aud agriculture, as the 
owner aud manager of a good garden and 
farm, he has given almost his entire life 
to the cultivation of his profession. He 
is a member of the American Medical 
Association, Ohio State Medical Society, 
Union Medical Association of North- 
eastern Ohio, North Central Ohio Medi- 
cal Society, and Wayne County Medical 
Society, of which he is now president. 

The Doctor has to some extent been a 
contributor to medical journalistic liter- 
ature, aud though never having published 
in book form his poems, has throughout 
his whole medical career been an occa- 
sional writer of verse, of which the fol- 
lowing, written in 1869, upon the death 
of his preceptor's wife, Mrs. T. H. Baker, 
a beautiful woman, stricken down in the 
prime of her womanhood, is a specimen: 

Gusli flows our grief like floods; at the noontide, 
Where joy bad been l)idden to dine on the morrow, 

Instead of its fullness from h)ve's sweetest wine cup, 
We drink lo its dregs from the chalice of sorrow. 

Life in its niorning. like light from the eastward, 

Where rays of rich crimson abolish the night. 
Bursts forth in its buddings of hope, in a i)romise 

TlKit age in its fullness will yield us delight. 

But alas! for Ihesi- eddying gusts of our faiic}'; 

Tis folly to build in the dark, on a wave — 
These castles of beauty, to enrapture the vision — 

Then vanish in vapor o'er an opening grave. 



Amanda, thy life was but a reflection 

Of all that a mortal can sip from this bowl; 

But, ah! it was more — a rich, full expression 
Of treasure immortal, the worth of the soul. 

If, at his pleasure, God clothes in rare beauty 

Its casket of jewels just for a day; 
At the invoice of Heaven, what estimate, value, 

Will appear on the schedule, and what its array? 

Were we but mortal, why give us such breathines. 
And fill with emotion the soul, if He would 

Cut the thin thread of our spiritual being 
And drop us, forgotten, lo oblivious flood? 

Ah no! o'er thy tomb a golden-winged cherub. 

The Angel of Promise, bids Hope spread her 
wings; 
A glorified Spirit mingles voice with our chorus. 

In numliers immortal forever she sings. 



dfOSEPH EICHAR, one of Wayue 
County's pioneers, residing on Sec- 
tion 5, Wooster Township, was born 
in Westmoreland County, Penn., March 
13, 1813. His father, Josejsh Eichar, Sr., 
was born in Pennsylvania, and was a mill- 
er aud merchant, also engaged in farm- 
ing. Upon arriving at manhood, on the 
20th of November, 1800, he was married 
to Miss Anna Sumaii, and eiglit cliildren 
were born to their union, of whom the 
subject of this sketch is the only survivor. 
In 1814 the senior Mr. Eichar came to 
Wayne County and bought a farm. Soon 
after his arrival he started a salt well. 



27-i 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



boring 450 feet, aud for a time refined 
salt, but the expense of caiTyiug on the 
work being too great, owing to the 
scarcity of water, it was abandoned. The 
salt well was suggested by the presence 
of a deer-lick on the spot. After a time 
the family removed to Lower Sandusky, 
where the father died October 17, 1821, 
at the age of forty-four. The familytheu 
returned to Wayne County, where the 
mother died in 18G2, at the age of sev- 
enty-eight. Mrs. Eichar was a devout 
Presbyterian. The grandfather of our 
subject, Jacob Eichar, was in 1812 made 
prisoner by the Indians, and kept for 
some time, finally making his escape by 
running the gauntlet. 

Joseph Eichar, the subject proper of 
this sketch, spent his early years upon 
the farm, and in 1841 was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Eliza Thompson, a native 
of Wooster, whose father, David Thomp- 
son, came to this county at an early date. 
For some thirteen years after their mar- 
riage Mr. and Mrs. Eichar made their 
home on the old Eichar homestead; then 
removed to Millbrook, where they re- 
mained for one year, and where Mrs. 
Eichar died, leaving six children to mourn 
her loss. Mr. Eichar returned to Woos- 
ter, aud for four years resided with his 
mother aud sisters. He then purchased 
his present farm, which was mostly unim- 
proved, except for the house, which had 



been used as a hotel for the accommoda- 
tion of the many travelers who were then 
crossing the country in wagons. In 1858 
he was married to Sarah Kobb, who died 
in September, 1877, in the faith of the 
Disciples Church, leaving two daughters. 
Mr. Eichar has for over thirty years 
made his Ebme where he now resides. 
Several attempts were made, in 1873 aud 
1882, to find gas on his farm. Mr. Eichar 
is a member of the Presbyterian Church 
of Wooster, and is one of Wayne County's 
self-made men, beginning poor, and win- 
ning success by his own industry, pru- 
dence aud foresight, at the same time 
acquiring and retaining the confidence of 
all with whom he came in contact. Oue 
of his distinguishing characteristics is his 
zeal for the education of the youth, believ- 
ing that upon the training of the young 
depends the future of our country, and 
he has given material support to numerous 
institutions of learning. His enterprise 
in seeking the development of Wayne 
County's resources aud the promotion of 
her industries is well known. It is to 
such men as he that the growth aud 
progress of Way)ie County may be traced. 
They bore the brunt of the battle in sub- 
duing the wilderness, and making it a fit 
habitation for a great, free people. A 
nation's gratitude is due these brave pio- 
neers, and they have a rich reward in seeing 
ours a united nation, the freest on earth. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



275 



I f ENKY JENNINGS, sou of Jacob 
t^ and Nancy F. (Crozier) Jenuings, 
Jl -^ was born on the farm Le now owns 
in Salt Creek Township, Wayne 
County, November 9, 1830. His grand- 
father, Henry Jennings, came from Loug 
Island with an only brother to Fayette 
County, Penn., where they settled, and he 
reared a family of eight children : David, 
Jacob, Henry, Jonathan, Sarah, Mary, 
Elizabeth and Rhoda, of whom only two 
are now living, Henry, in Dallas County, 
Iowa, and Jonathan, in Waverly, Ohio. 

Of these, Jacob, (me of the pioneers of 
Wayne Countj% was born in Fayette 
County, Penn., in 1790, married in 1827, 
and removed to Salt Creek Township, 
Wayne County, to the farm now owned 
by Henry Jennings, which was taken up 
in 1822, and five acres cleared. Jacob 
married Nancy F. Crozier, by whom he 
had three children: John Crozier, who 
died when a boy; Jane, now Mrs. A. J. 
Knox, of Fredericksburgh, and Henry, the 
subject of this sketch, who received his 
education in the common schools of the 
county, and eventually married Margaret 
J., daughter of Thomas Patrick, of Salt 
Creek Township, Wayne County. She was 
born in Fredericksburgh, and her father 
later purchased the farm adjoining the 
Jennings homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Jen- 
nings have had twelve children, as fol- 
lows: Elizabeth, now Mrs. R. C. Cook, 



residing in Apple Creek, Wayne County; 
Jacob Barclay, who married Laura Cook, 
and now lives at Salt Creek, Wayne 
County; Matilda, who died in infancy; 
Mary Jane, James Martin, Sarah Ann 
and Martha (twins), William Henry. 
Margaret Emma, Laura, John Clark and 
Arvida Eunice. Mr. and Mrs. Jennings 
are members of the Presbyterian Church ; 
he is a Prohibitionist, and the family are 
among the able and respected people of 
the community in which they live. 



I( SAAC K. JAMESON is a son of Joshua 
j and Rebecca (Mackey) Jameson, na- 
^ fives of Delaware and Pennsylvania, 
respectively. In 1818 they removed 
from Fayette County, Penn., to Wayne 
County, Ohio, and entered one-half sec- 
tion of land in the southwest corner of 
Sugar Creek Township (Section 36). 
Here the father died in March, 182t!, in 
the fifty-sixth year of his age; the mother 
survived until October, 1860, dying in the 
eighty-fourth year of her age. They hail 
a family of eleven children, as follows: 
Sarah, Mary, Stephen M., John, Alexander 
H., Joshua M., Rebecca S., Elizabeth, 
Joseph, Isaac K., and an infant that died 
in infancy. Of these, Sarah, wife of Will- 
iam James, of Fayette County, Penn., died 
in the seventy-sixth year of her age, leav- 



270 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



ing four children: Ann, wife of A. Van 
Devert, of Hamilton County, Ohio; Sarah, 
now Mrs. Jeffries; George W., of Lima, 
Ohio, and Elizabeth C, now Mrs. Grib- 
ble, of New Philadelphia, Ohio. Marj, 
widow of James Hackett, died in March, 
1S82, in her eighty-fourth year, leaving 
one son, Isaiah H., who lives on the home- 
stead, in East Union Township, Wayne 
County. Stephen M., a physician of Dal- 
ton, married Nancy S. Derret, of Wayne 
County, and died in 1841, in his foi'ty- 
first year, leaving three children : Rebecca 
Jane, wife of Thomas Orr, of East Union 
Township; Eodney C, of Baughman 
Township, and Stephen R., of Ashtabula 
County, Ohio. John died in 1882, at 
Apple Creek, Ohio, in the seventy-ninth 
year of his age; he was married to Eliza 
McCurrdy, and located in Sugar Creek 
Township; they had eleven children: the 
oldest died in infancy; Joshua M., in 
Lima, Ohio; Martha E., married to Ervin 
Anderson (both are deceased) ; James 
H., in Ionia County, Mich. ; Alexander H., 
a merchant in A[)ple Creek, Oliio; Nancy 
J., married to A. Hoverstock (both are 
deceased) ; Stephen S., on a part of 
the old homestead, Section 3fi, Sugar 
Creek Township; Amanda R., deceased 
wife of John R. Dobbins; Isaac N., in 
Apple Creek, Ohio; Robert R., in Ken- 
ton, Ohio, and Caroline, wife of Silas 
Moore, in Colorado. Alexander H. mar- 



ried Elizabeth Miller (now deceased), of 
Stark County, Ohio, and died in Will 
County, 111., in his seventy-sixth year; 
he was for many years engaged in mer- 
cantile business in Apple Creek with his 
brother, Isaac K. ; he left two daugliters, 
Mary Ann, widow of Rev. Thomas Mc- 
Cartney, of Nebraska, and Martha Jane, 
both living at Aurora, 111. Joshua M. 
spent his life on the old homestead, Sec- 
tion 36, Sugar Creek Township; he was 
twice married, and by his first wife, nee 
Rachel Shipley, he had two sons, George, a 
lawyer of Lima, Ohio, and Albon, in Harper 
County, Kas. ; his second wife was Mary 
A. Morrow, by whom he had no children; 
he died in 1874, in the sixty-seventh 
year of his age. Rebecca S. died in 
Fayette County, Penn., in her eighth year, 
before the family moved to Ohio. Eliza- 
beth, widow of George Hackett, resides 
on tiie Hackett homestead, in East Union 
Township; she has four children living: 
Eleanor H., wife of Levi Orr; Mary J., 
at home; Eliza H., wife of Daniel Eshel- 
raan, and George W., on the homestead. 
Joseph died in 1884, in the seventy-first 
year of his age; he was twice married, 
his first wife being Esther E. McClure, 
of Holmes Countj', who bore him four 
children: Emily H., wife of Josepli 
Goudy, of Fillmore County, Minn. ; Rebec- 
ca S. (deceased) ; Sarah, wife of William 
Orr, of Moorland, and Mai'garet, wife of 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



211 



B. F. Dile, of Salt Creek Township; his 
^^ecoml wife was Maria McDowell, and to 
them were born three children: Rachel 
A., wife of William Richardson, of Tusca- 
rawas County, Ohio; Jessie M.. wife of 
John StauflPer, of Paint Township, and 
Louis M., who died in Topeka, Kas. 

Isaac K. Jameson was born in Fayette 
County, Penn., December 3, 1817, and 
■when four mouths old his parents moved 
to Wayne County, Ohio. He remained 
on the homestead until eighteen years 
old, and then for nine years engaged in 
teaching school. In 1845 he purchased 
an interest in a mercantile business in 
Apple Creek, with his brother, .-ilexander 
H., which partnership continued twenty- 
two j-ears. In 1867 Alexander H. sold 
his interest to his brother, John, who, 
with John's son, Alexander K., Jr., and 
Isaac K., continued the business until 
1S7'.I, when the last named sold his in- 
terest to them. In 1809 Isaac K. bought 
the farm which he now owns, in East 
Union Township, Wayne County, which 
contains 174 acres of good land, to which 
he moved in 1880. Here he made his 
home nine years, and in April, 1889, 
returned to Apple Creek. In ISHO he 
married Miss Susan, daughter of Samuel 
Smith, of Smith's Ferry, Beaver Co., 
Penn., and to them were born three chil- 
dren: John Smith, on the home farm; 
Howard B., a liardware merchant of Dnl- 



ton, and Story L., at home. Mr. Jameson 
has served as justice of the peace, and has 
filled other township and county offices. 
He and his family attend the Presbyterian 
Church. Politically he is a Republican, 
with prohibition proclivities. 



diOHN WEBB, farmer, and proj^-ietor 
of the Elk Horn Sugar Works, Ches- 
ter Township, is a native of Greene 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, born Septem- 
ber 26, 1837, the second son of Benton 
and Sarah (Peigh) Webb. Benton Webb 
was born in Columbia Couuty, Penn., 
January 15, 1815, and was the son of 
Moses Webb, who was a son of Samuel 
Webb, and a native of the same county. 
Moses Webb was a soldier in the War of 
1812. 

In 1824 Benton Webb came with his 
father to Wayne County, and later settled 
in Cedar Valley, where they operated a 
grist-mill a year or two, and then went to 
Medina Couuty, but a year later Benton 
returned to Wayne Couuty, and, with his 
father-in-law, John Peigh, bought a tract 
of land on Killbuck Creek, intending to 
build a water mill. Here he died June 
4, 1842, aged twenty-seven years, four 
months and twenty-two days. His wife 
was a robust woman, and after his death 
she remained on the huul, where she 



278 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



rftared lier family, but, being in meager 
circumstances, was obliged to work by 
tlie day for her neighbors to support 
herself and children. As they grew older 
they left home, until only John remained 
with the mother. She finally married 
George Eingler, and then John deter- 
mined to gratify his desire to see more of 
tiie world, and in 1864 took a ti-ip to tlie 
Western States, stopping for a few months 
at Des Moines, Iowa. There he entered 
the employ of the Mabees Menagerie 
Company, and traveled with them through 
the Western States. At Chicago they 
disbanded for the winter, and before 
starting again in the spring the estab- 
lishment was bought by Adam Forepaugh 
and John O'Brien. Mr. Webb traveled 
with them through the Southern and 
Eastern States, and while riding in the 
ring was thrown from his horse and 
severely injured. While in winter quar- 
ters at Philadelphia, he had charge of 
two small lions, which he thought were 
very docile, but one day one of them 
turned iipon him and crushed his arm 
considerably, although he finally con- 
quered him. He returned home soon 
after, and remained until the winter of 
1866, when he went to Texas, remained a 
year, and then returned home, and has 
since lived on the homestead. He has 
visited seventeen States, and has in a 
measure satisfied his longing for travel. 



He lived with his mother, caring for her 
until her death, which occurred October 
27, 1887, when she was aged seventy-one 
years, five months and twenty -one days. 
He was then appointed administrator of 
the estate, and was obliged to buy the 
farm, as his factory was located on it, and 
his elder brother wished it sold. 

For many years Mr. Webb has been 
engaged in the manufacture of soi'ghum 
molasses, and of late has turned his at- 
tention to the making of sugar. His 
factory is 25x50 feet in dimensions, and 
his machinery is propelled by a twenty- 
horse power engine. This being the only 
factory of the kind in the township, he 
has a monopoly of the trade, and indeed 
has a large custom from adjoining coun- 
ties, as his is the best factory in this part 
of Ohio. In the fall of 1888 he manu- 
factured 1,000 pounds of sugar, and he 
expects to make this the leading j^i'oduct 
of his factory. Mr. Webb has spent years 
in experimenting, and has about perfected 
the art, and the sugar now turned out of 
his factory will compare favorably with 
any other in the market. 



D 



EWITT CLINTON McCLAKRAN. 

Among the leading farmers in 
Wayne County, Ohio, the subject of 
this sketch occupies a most prominent pn- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



279 



sition. He was boru in the city of Woos- 
ter, Wayne Co., Ohio, June 19, 1819. 
His father, Kobert MeClarran, was a na- 
tive of Lancaster County, Penn., but when a 
young man moved to Westmoreland Coun- 
ty, that State. In 1811 he immigrated 
to Wayne County. He was by trade a 
carpenter, and for a few yeai'S followed 
that occupation in Wooster. In 1812 he 
married Grace Cook, of Columbiana Coun- 
ty. Ohio, who became the mother of five 
children: Eliza C, John Cook, Dewitt 
Clinton, Koswell and David L. Kobert 
MeClarran was a soldier in the War of 
1812, and at its close purchased a large 
tiact of laud near Wooster, where for a 
number of years he was engaged in saw- 
milling and farming, and afterward carried 
on Iianking in Wooster. He was a justice 
of the peace for many years, being the 
first in Wayne County, and married the 
first couple in Wayne County. He was 
elected to the Legislature December 1, 
1823, and served until December 6, 1824. 
He held many positions of trust in the 
county, was a man of marked ability, and 
stood high in the estimation of those who 
knew him. He died March 7, 1831. 

Dewitt Clinton MeClarran has resided 
in Wayne County all his life. He has 
been an extenssive farmer, and owns some 
600 acres of valuable land in the county. 
In 1851 he married Janet Jordan, daugh- 
ter of John Jordan, of Holmes County, 



Ohio. Five children have blessed this 
happy union: John Cook, now an attor- 
ney at law of Wooster, and a graduate 
of the University of Wooster, Ohio; 
David Quinby, Julius, Robert Clinton, all 
farmers, and Grace Janet, at home. Rob- 
ert Clinton is also a graduate of Wooster 
University. Tlie mother of these children 

j died in January, 1882, aged sixty years. 

j For the past seven years Mr. MeClarran 
has r-esided on his present farm. He has 

I always taken an active part in the welfare 
of his township, county and State, and in 
politics stands independent of party lines. 



DB. GOOD was born near Berlin, 
Somerset Co., Penn., November 10, 

184:1, son of John and Eliza Good. 

His father was a native of the same coun- 
ty and State, and died August 2, 1844, 
aged thirty-three years. The mother of 
our subject, after the death of Mr. Good, 
married, in the winter of 1850, David 
Garver, and they came to Congress Town- 
ship, Wayne Co., Ohio, in the following 
spring, bringing young D. B. with them. 
She is now living, in good health, in Con- 
gress village, in her seventy -third year. 

The subject of this biographical memoir 
received a fair common-school education, 
and was reared to farm life. February 
27, 18'i8, he was united in marriage with 



280 



WAYXE COUNT r. 



Margaret Worst, who was born April 1, 
1843, iu Asblaud County, Ohio. Her 
father, Samuel Worst, was also a native 
of Ashland County, and his father, Henry, 
a Penusylvanian by birth, came from his 
native State to Ashland County iu a very 
early day. To Mr. and Mrs. D. B. Good 
have been born two children, as follows: 
Alda, born March 10, 1869, and Clayton, 
born June 23, 1876. The parents are 
members of the Brethren Church; in pol- 
itics Mr. Good is a Kepublican. He is 
one of the enterprising, energetic and 
substantial citizens of Congress Town- 
ship, Wayne County, and is the owner of 
over 200 acres of improved land. He and 
his estimable wife are identified with the 
social and educational interests of their 
locality, and are both highly respected. 




OBERT EMMET LUCAS is a na- 
tive of Wayne County, Ohio, born 



— in Chippewa Townshijj November 
11, 1858, a sou of Thomas and 
Margaret (Crawford) Lucas. His father 
was born in Pennsylvania November 21, 
1797, and about 1830 moved to Ohio, set- 
tling at Steubenville, and for a number of 
years he was captain of a steamboat on the 
Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. He was 
married at Steubenville, May 12, 1840, to 
Margaret Crawford, who was born in 



Pennsylvania February 11, 1817, and iu 
1836 removed with her parents to Steu- 
benville. In April, 1841, they removed 
to Wayne County, and settled in Chippewa 
Township, where the father died in April, 
1868. The mother is living iu Doylestowu. 
R. E. Lucas was I'eared and educated 
in his native township. His father dying 
before he was ten years old, he was early 
obliged to rely on his own resources. He 
obtained a good business education, and 
for several years was employed as clerk 
iu the stores of Doylestown. In Septem- 
ber, 1880, he entered the employ of Seiber- 
ling. Miller & Co. as book-keeper, and has 
siuce held that position. Mr. Lucas was 
married October 20, 1886, at Johnson's 
Corners, Ohio, to C. Gertrude Dickson, 
daughter of Dr. M. M. and M. H. Dick- 
sou, and they have one child, M. Delight. 
In politics Mr. Lucas is a supporter of the 
principles of the Republican pai'ty. 



QEORGE R. LAUBACH, of the firm 
of Laubach & Boyd, of Wooster, 
was born in Northampton County, 
Penn., January 4, 1853. His father, 
Rudolph H., also a native of that couuty, 
was a miller by trade. The grandfather, 
likewise named Rudolph, was also born 
iu Pennsylvania. The family are of Ger- 
man extraction, and were settled iu this 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



281 



couutry as early as 1765. The father of 
George E. was married in Penusylvauia 
to Catherine, daiighter of George and 
Mary Koth, and born in Northampton 
County. Of their union six children were 
born, as follows: Maria, who died in 
Wooster, aged seventeen years; Emma, 
who is Mrs. Frederick Tescher; Odelia, 
now Mrs. John B. Dorn, of Wooster; 
George E. ; James W., now a resident of 
Wooster, and Ida May, who died in Woos- 
ter at the age of eighteen. In the spring 
of 1859 the parents came to Wooster, 
where for a time the father engaged in 
mercantile business, and later embarked 
in milling. For many years he suffered 
from chronic rheumatism, and in 1886 he 
received a stroke of paralysis, whicli has 
rendered him helpless. He is now aged 
sixty-seven years. The entire family, 
parents and children, are members of the 
German Eeformed Church. 

The subject of these lines was six years 
old when his parents removed to Wooster. 
He had good educational advantages, first 
attending the common schools and after- 
ward the Wooster High School. At the 
age of fourteen he started to learn the 
drug business with A. M. Armstrong, of 
Wooster, with whom he had been but a 
year when the proprietor sold out. But 
young Laubach continued at the business 
until he had been at it for about three 
and a half years. For two years then he 



was with McKiuley & Smith, of New Cas- 
tle, Penn., after which he returned to 
Wooster, and was employed in what was 
kuo^n as the Arcadome drug store. In 
this latter place he stayed until the store 
was burned out, when he became connected 
with E. A. Jones, successor to Harvey 
Howard, remaining there until January 
1, 1880, when he began business for him- 
self in his present location. The firm 
was at first Laubach & Bevard, which 
later became Laubach & Donnelly, and. 
still later Laubach & Boyd, the present 
firm. In February, 1880, Mr. Lauliach 
was married, his bride being Miss Sarah 
Ann Horn, daughter of John J. and Car- 
oline H. Horn, and a native of Brooklyn, 
N. Y. She was but a child when she came 
with her parents to Wayne County, where 
her father died in 1877; her mother is 
now a resident of Wooster, and is aged 
fifty-two years. Of this union five chil- 
dren have been born: Ida May, Mattie 
H., Mary Hilda, Amy C. and George H. 
Mr. Laubach is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, the Odd Fellows order 
and the Eoyal Arcanum, and in politics 
he is a Eepublican. He and his wife are 
members of the Eeformed Church. He 
is one of the most progressive business 
men of Wayne County, whose success is 
entirely the result of his own energy, 
good judgment and close application to 
business. He is a man of unblemished 



282 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



character, and is liiglil}- esteemed and well 
spoken o£ by all who know him. 



If J/ ENEY BIXLER was born in Man- 
rpi Chester, Carroll (formerly Balti- 
Jj - more) Co., Md., in July, 1814 
He had common-school advantages, 
but, determined on having a better educa- 
tion, he pursued his study at night by the 
light of the old-fashioned tallow dip. He 
taught school in Baltimore for several 
years, and then migrated to Wayne County, 
Ohio, in 1838, where for a time he clerked 
in a warehouse, later becoming a teacher, 
which })rofession he followed here for a 
number of years, later establishing him- 
self in the grocery business. Selling that 
out, he engaged in the manufacture of 



lope, which he followed until 1860. On 
giving up that business he bought a farm 
in Wayne Township, on which the family 
lived for three years, returning to Wooster 
in 1874, when he practically retired from 
active life. 

Mr. Bisler was the first to introduce the 
manufacture of rope into Wayne County, 
and it was for years a prominent industry 
here. He was the architect of his own 
fortune, having earned every dollar he ever 
possessed by his own industry. AVhen he 
left Maryland for Wayne County he was 
so poor that he had to make nearly the 



entire journey on foot. He was industri- 
ous and willing to turn his hand to any- 
thing by which he could honestly earn a 
dollar. He obtained his first start by 
gathering and selling chestnuts, and from 
that humble beginning he advanced step 
by step until he became well-to-do. His 
business integrity was such tl^at the people 
with whom he dealt .soon learned to know 
and appreciate the sterling character of 
the man. He was always guided b}' his 
mature judgment, not being prone to 
hasty action. A diligent and wise reader, 
he was usually well informed, and he will 
long be remembered as one of Wayne 
County's most useful citizens. November 
5, 1851, he married Elizabeth, daughter 
of Jacob and Catherine (Lesher) Baker, 
and a native of Lancaster County, Penn. 
Her parents came to Wayne County, and 
there spent the remainder of their lives, 
the mother dying in 1871, at the age of 
seventy-two years, and the father in 1888, 
aged eighty-nine years. Their daughter, 
Elizabeth, who was quite young when 
they came to Wayne County, was here 
reared and grew to womanhood. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Henry Bixler five 
children were born, viz. : Frank, who" died 
in 1853, aged two years; Henry, who died 
in 1879, aged twenty-four ; Ida C. ; Darl 
J., who was born October 21, 1800, in 
Wooster, Wayne Co., Ohio, and Charles 
E,, the last three named living with their 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



2S3 



mother. Heuvy Bixler died December 
27, 1882, aged sixty-eight years, and after 
his death his widow, with her three 
vouueest chiklreu, made their home iu 
Wooster, but they now reside on a farm 
at Madisonburgh. This family is well 
known in the county, and they are univer- 
sally esteemed by all who know them. 



^- 



LVI ZUVEK is a son of Jacob and 
., Elizabeth (Patterson) Zuver, na- 
-^ fives of Pennsylvania and Mary- 
land, respectively. They settled in 
that part of Mercer County, Penu., which 
is now Lawrence County, and in 1830 
came to Wayne County, where they pur- 
chased the farm in Canaan Townsliip now 
occupied by George Mathes, and were 
recognized as among the prominent 
farmers of their day. Jacob Zuver voted 
first with the Whig party, and afterward 
with the Republican, and both he and his 
wife were members of Canaan Methodist 
Episcopal Church. He died in 1874, and 
his widow iu 1882. They reared five 
children, three of whom are living: Alvi, 
John, who lives with Alvi, and Robert, in 
Sidney, Shelby Co., Ohio. 

Alvi Zuver, the subject of this me- 
moir, was born in Mercer County, Penn., 
October 15, 182-1, and was five years of 
age when he came to Wayne County. 



He attended the township schools and 
Canaan Academy, also the schools of Le 
Roy and Norwalk. He learned the car- 
penter's trade, which he followed for 
several years, and has since lived on the 
homestead in Canaan Township. In 1851 
Mr. Zuver married Miss Jane E., daugh- 
ter of Uri Smith, of Litchfield, Medina 
Co., Ohio, and four children have been 
born to them, three of whom died in in- 
fancy. Mr. Zuver has always voted with 
the Republican party. In 1858 he was 
elected justice of the peace of Canaan 
Township, and served fifteen consecutive 
years. He is a member of Canaan Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, and has been 
recording steward for many years. 




I LBERT MILLER is a native of 
l\ Wayne County, Ohio, born in 
1839, a son of Michael and Mar- 
garet Miller. His parents had a 
family of nine children, but five of whom 
are living — Isopheua, Albert, Michael, 
Augustus and Elizabeth. The names of 
the deceased are Mary, Adaline, Isabella 
and Adolph. Michael was an early set- 
tler of Wayne County, his first purchase 
of land being 100 acres in Greene 
Township, which he subsequently sold and 
bought eighty acres iu Wayne Towushi^j, 
on which he lived the rest of his life. He 



284 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



died iu 1850, aged forty-eight years, his 
widow in 18fi9, aged sixty-two years. They 
were natives of Germany, coming to Amer- 
ica with their parents in their youth. He 
was a successful farmer, and one of the 
respected citizens of Wayne Township. 
Albert Miller was reared in his native 
township, which has always been his home, 
and he received good educational advan- 
tages. He was early instructed in the 
duties of farm life, and since attaining 
manhood has devoted his energies to that 
calling. In 18G7 he married Maria Leh- 
man, daughter of John Lehman, of Wayne 
County, and to them have been born a 
family of four children: F. L., F. C, 
E. A. and Annie B. In politics Mr. 
Miller casts his suffrage with the Demo- 
cratic party. He has always taken an 
active part in the public affairs of his 
township, and has served as school di- 
rector and township trustee. 



HfENRY SHREVE, son of Thomas 
Shreve, was born in a stone house 
J -^ west of Shreve, in Clinton Town- 
ship, Wayne Co., Ohio. His fa- 
ther's place of nativity was Washington 
Mills, near Perryopolis, Fayette Co., 
Penn., where he married Mary Wigle. 
In 1813 he made a tour through this 
county in search of a desirable location. 



and, being satisfied with the results of his 
prospective trip, he, in 181G, purchased a 
tract of land. In 1818 he built the first 
barn, made of hewn logs, in Clinton 
Township, and had to make a journey on 
horseback to Pittsburgh, in order to pro- 
cure nails for use in the construction of 
the roof of his barn, which was 32x50 feet 
in size. This barn was liuilt on tlie farm 
now owned by Cameron and others, on 
the line of Holmes and Wayne Counties. 
Thomas Shreve was the father of nine 
children, five of whom are deceased, viz. : 
Richard, Rosanna, Margaret (who mar- 
ried John Graven, also deceased), Char- 
lolta, and William, who was killed in 
1831, by a runaway team; those living are 
Caleb, in Caldwell County, Mo. ; Henry, 
subject of our notice; Sarah J., wife of 
Thomas Morgan, of Clinton Township, 
and Eliza, wife of Nicholas Crum, of 
Holmes County. Mr. Shreve died July 
4, 1857, and Mrs. Shreve January 13, 
1854. The postoffice of Shreve was 
named in his honor, and the town of 
Shreve derives its name from that, its 
name having been changed on the incor- 
poration of the village. He was chair- 
man of the first meeting held to con- 
sider the building of the Pittsburgh, Fort 
Wayne & Chicago Railroad. He was a 
member of the State Legislature during 
ls::5<.»-40 and 1840-41, when S. P. Chase, 
Rufus Spalding and others, who have 





u^^t 





TAM' c^ 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



287 



I 



since acquired a national re^iutation, were 
members of tiiat honorable body, and 
during his life he was recognized as one 
of the leading men of the county and this 
portion of the State, and was prominent 
in all local enterprises. 

Henry Shreve, the subject proper of 
this memoir, married, in 1847, Harriet, 
daughter of John Jones. The two fam- 
ilies originally removed from New Jersey 
to Fayette County, Penn., and from there 
to Wayne County, being neighbors and 
friends in three States. Mr. and Mrs. 
Shreve have live children: E. D., a civil 
engineer in the City of Mexico, being 
engaged in the construction of a drainage 
and sewerage canal for the Mexican Gov- 
ernment at that city; Florence M., now 
Mrs. A. M. Miller, of Millbrook, Ohio; 
E. B., now Mrs. R. T. Craig, residing near 
"Winfield, Cowley Co., Kas. ; Allen T., 
formerly a merchant of Shreve, and Eliza 
J. Mr. Shreve is a Democrat, and has 
been officially identified with the town- 
ship for many years, having been school 
director for thirty years and commissioner 
of county from 185'J to 1865. He is re- 
gardetl as authority on township and 
school matters, and inaugurated a system 
of road work that has done more for the 
building u[) of good roads in the com- 
munity than any other system. Mr. 
Shreve is regarded by all as a just and 
upright man, and one that is above a price 



in the discharge of any public duty. At 
one time he carried the keys to the coun- 
ty treasury a day and night, and at another 
time, finding the treasurer out and the 
office and safe open, he closed the same, 
thus showing that he is honest and trust- 
ed by his fellow-men. He has frequently 
been solicited by the leading men of the 
county to accept higher offices, but, being 
a practical farmer, he devotes his time 
and attention to that end. 



UINBY JONES is a native son of 
Wayne County, born in Wooster 
October 13, 1880, a son of Benja- 
min and Hannah (Vauemmou) 
Jones, former a native of Winchester, 
Frederick Co., Va., born April 13, 1787, 
and latter a native of New Jersey, born 
December 25, 1794. They were among 
the earliest settlers of Wayne County, 
Ohio, and from the time of their settle- 
ment until their deaths were among the 
most prominent citizens of Wooster. 
They had a family of eight children, viz. : 
D. K., Eleanor, Isaac N., Ohio F., Charles 
Carroll, Joseph E., Quinby and B. J. 
The father died April 24, 1861, and the 
mother in 1879. 

Quinby Jones remained at home until 
twenty years of age, when he went to Cal- 
ifornia, via the overland route, being 



288 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



ninety days on the way. He remained 
there two years engaged in mining, and 
in 1852 returned to Wooster. He was 
married, December 6, 1853, to Layinia 
Thomas, a native of Wooster, daughter of 
Lewis Thomas, one of the early settlers of 
the county, formerly of Maryland. After 
his marriage Mr. Jones bought a part of 
his father's homestead, on which he lived 
until 1867, when he moved to the farm 
where he now lives, which he has im- 
proved, and now has one of the pleasant- 
est homes in the township. He has al- 
ways been public spirited, and has assist- 
ed materiall}- in advancing the interests 
of his native county and town. In addi- 
tion to general farming he has engaged 
quite extensively in dealing in cattle and 
sheep, and the breeding of Scotch collie 
dogs. In politics he takes an active in- 
terest, casting his suffrage with the Dem- 
ocratic party. He has a family of four 
children: John T., Emma J.. Joseph J. 
and Marv E. S. 



t Jl ES. JANE BECHTEL, of Woos- 
j|r| ier, Ohio, is the widow of John 
J -^ Bechtel, and was born in Chester 
Township, Wayne County, in 1818. 
Her father, James Flack,was born in Wash- 
ington County, Penn., and was by trade a 
millwright. His father was born abroad. 



of English extraction. The father of our 
subject married Margaret Ramsey, who 
bore him eight children, six of whom 
reached maturity; Mrs. Bechtel and Mrs. 
Mary McDaniel, of Wooster, are the only 
ones living in Wayne County. While 
Mrs. Bechtel was but a child she lost a 
mother's care, and some time afterward 
her father chose as his second wife Miss 
Jxilia White, who bore him six children. 
The father died in 1853. About 1818 he 
had come to Wayne County, where he 
settled on a farm, and also built and 
operated a mill on Little Killbuck Creek. 
Mrs. Bechtel's girlhood was passed on the 
farm in Chester Township, and in 1837 
she was there married to John Bechtel. 
Tliey came to AYooster, where they built 
the house which has since been her home 
with the exception of the four years dur- 
ing which Mr. Bechtel was sheriff. 

John Bechtel was a son of Martin and 
Margaret (Spellman) Bechtel, natives of 
Pennsylvania, both of whom died in 
Wayne County, to which they had re- 
moved when John was quite young. The 
latter became well known in Wayne 
County ; was a Democrat in politics, and 
influential in the councils of his party. 
He held various township and county 
offices ; was constable, deputy sheriff, and 
was later elected and re-elected to the 
office of sheriff, which he filled accepta- 
bly to the people and creditably to him- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



289 



self for two terms. For many years be 
had been a member of the I. O. O. F., and 
was looked upon as a man of unflinching 
integrity. Mr. Bechtel died in 18G5, at 
the age of fifty-five years. Of his union 
with our subject there were six children 
born, as follows: James Martin, now a 
resident of Burlington, Iowa; Melissa A., 
now Mrs. Irving Foghsou, of Duluth; 
David E., in Southern Ohio; Mary E., 
wife of J. P. Hockius, of Grand Rajiids, 
Mich. ; John T., living in Greenfield 
Oliio; Jennie T., now Mrs. Jerome T. 
Baird, of Wooster, Ohio. Mrs. Bechtel 
was as well known as her husband, and is 
held in high esteem by all who know her. 
Jekome T. Baird was born in Wayne 
County, Ohio, October 16, 1858. His 
father, Cyrus Baird, was also a native of 
the county, born in Plain Township. His 
grandfather, who was also named Cyrus, 
was a native of the Slate of New York, 
born March 2, 1801, and came to this 
county with his father, Aai-ou Baird, in 
1812. He was married to a Miss Blatch- 
ley, and both died in Wayne County. His 
son, Cyrus, father of Jerome, was reared 
apoii the farm, and after arriving at years 
of manhood, married Amy Tyler, a daugh- 
ter of Benjamin and Maria Tyler, both of 
whom were early settlers of Wayne Coun- 
ty. Of this union four children were 
born, Jerome T. being the only one living 
in Wayne County. In the spring of 18(19 



the mother passed away, the father still 
living in Wooster. Jerome Baird's first 
business experience was as a clerk in a 
drug store in Wooster, in which he finally 
bought an interest. In the spring of 
1884 he sold out his interest, and started 
alone in the business he is now conduct- 
ing, lu 1882 he was married to Miss 
Jennie, daughter of John and Jane Becli- 
tel. No children have been born to them. 
Ml'. Baird is a member of the K. of M., 
and he is regarded as a young business 
man of capacity, whose attention to busi- 
ness and character for probity are sure to 
command success. 



JfOHN EVEY was born in Washing- 
ton County, Md., April 23, 1825, and 
"— is a son of Samuel and Sophia 
(Neiswander) Evey, both natives of the 
State of Maryland. The paternal grand- 
father of John Evey was Christian Evey, 
and his maternal grandfather was John 
Neiswander, both natives of Germany, 
and early settlers of Washington County, 
Md. The parents of our subject settled 
in Wayne County in 1827, locating on a 
farm on Section 16, Chippewa Township, 
which they cleared and improved, in later 
life removing to Doylestown, where the}' 
died. They reared a family of eight chil- 
dren, as follows: Christian, William, 



290 



WAYNE COUXTY. 



Maria (Mrs. Daniel Snyder), John, Sophia 
(Mrs. Henry Hoj-t), Samuel, Susan (Mrs. 
Eiley Franks) and Elizabeth. 

John Evey, the subject of this memoir, 
was reared in Chippewa Township, Wayne 
Co., Ohio, where he received a limited 
common-school education. He began life 
poor, on a rented farm ; later purchased 
eighty acres of his father's farm, which 
he sold in 1861, and bought 106 acres on 
Section 8, same township, where he has 
since resided, and has made all the im- 
provements in bxiildings, etc. Mr. Evey 
married, August 15, 1849, Catherine, 
daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Case) 
Whitman. He is a thorough-going farm- 
er, and by industry and friigality has 
accumulated a fine property. Politically 
he is a Democrat. 




OBERT BARNES. This well- 
known [)ioneer of Wayne County, 
Ohio, traces his descent to Revo- 
lutionary ancestors. His grand- 
father, Peter Barnes, was born in En- 
gland, and there married a Miss Graham, 
a native of Ireland. Four days after 
their wedding the young couple set sail for 
America. The precise date is not known, 
but it was years before the commence- 
ment of the War of the Revolution, in 
which Peter Barnes took part, as a Con- 



tinental soldier. He afterward settled in 
Maryland, and there his son, Henry, 
father of Robert, was liorn. He was a 
farmer by occupation, and during the 
Revolution sold his fai-m for S10,000, 
taking his pay in Continental money, 
which became worthless in his hands. 

After selling his farm Henrv Barnes 
moved to Pennsylvania, and in that State 
was married to Jane Graham, and tliere 
some of his children were born. Seek- 
ing for virgin soil and cheaper lands on 
which to make their home, the parents 
removed with their family to AVayne 
County, Ohio, in 1811, settling in Salt 
Creek Township, among the very earliest 
pioneers of that region. They lived the 
usual life of pioneers, but their humble 
log cabin was the scene of contentment 
and happiness. Children grew u[) witliiii 
its walls, and the rough labor of clear- 
ing a home in the dense forest was gladly 
endured for their sakes. In the early 
days they were sometimes molested by 
Indians, who had not yet been entirely 
reconciled to the white man taking this 
beautiful country, but no serious loss 
j was sustained. As an instance of what 
! the early pioneers had to endure. Mi-. 
' Barnes relates that his father was com- 
pelled to go forty miles on horseback, to 
Mohican, to get two bushels of corn, car- 
rying his gun to defend himself from the 
Indians, and returning had to go nine 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



291 



miles to Killbuck, to get it ground at 
Stubb's Mills, and had to wait two days 
and one uiglit for his scanty grist. It 
was through such hardships and labors 
as these this fertile county was won to 
civilization for the descendants of these 
hardy pioneers. In the fall of 1812 
they were compelled to leave, and again 
crossed the mountains into Pennsylvania, 
returning, however, the following spring, 
and the parents never again left the 
county. The mother preceded her hus- 
band to the grave about two years, the 
latter dying March 9, 1848. To this 
worthy old pioneer couple nine children 
were born, only two of whom now survive. 
Among the early settlers of the county, 
Henry Barnes was well known, and was 
respected as a man of integrity and sound 
judgment, whose word could always be de- 
pended upon. 

Robert Barnes, the subject of this 
sketch, was born in Beaver County, Penn., 
June 2, 1807. Like all the children of 
the old pioneers, his education was gotten 
in the old log school of the day, with its 
greased pa[)er windows and its puncheon 
floor. When old enough he swung the 
pioneer's ax in the primeval forest, and 
took his full share of all the other hard 
work on the new farm the family were 
creating. At the age of twenty-four Mr. 
Barnes was united in marriage with Miss 
Christina, daughter of Thomas Rail, born 



in Pennsylvania, and brought by her par- 
ents to Wayne County when quite young. 
Nine children were born of this union: 
Dewitt is a farmer in East Union Town- 
ship; Elizabeth is the widow of Andrew 
Glenn, and a resident of this county, as is 
her sister Jane, the wife of William 
Moucher; Luc)' is married to R. B. 
Snyder, of Wooster; Kempton is a resi- 
dent of Franklin Township, this county; 
John was a Union soldier during the Re- 
bellion, and was killed in the army ; Fran- 
ces (Mrs. Graham) and Charles both 
live in Cleveland, Ohio, and William in 
Elyria, Ohio. 

After his marriage Mr. Barnes bought 
a farm in Franklin Township, on which he 
lived till 1870, in which year his wife 
died, and he rented his farm and came to 
Wooster, where he makes his home with 
his daughter Lucy, Mrs. Snyder. For 
eighteen years of his residence in this 
county, before he bought his Franklin 
Township farm. Mr. Barnes kept a hotel 
in Fredericksburgh, in Salt Creek Town- 
ship, and became well known, not only to 
Wayne County people, but to a large cir- 
cle of friends, with whom he was popular. 
He had a liking for military matters, and 
was for five years lieutenant-colonel of a 
militia infantry regiment, and later was 
for five years in the Jackson Cavalry, 
State troops. He and his wife were both 
members of the Presbyterian Church of 



292 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Salt Creek, aud were esteemed both as 
early settlers and good friends and neigh- 
bors. In politics Mr. Barnes has always 
been a stanch Democrat. 



ri( BEAM R HUFFMAN (deceased) 
fL\ was one of the prominent farmers 
Jj -^ oi Wayne County. He was a na- 
tive of this county, born October 11, 
1822, in Chippewa Township, the eldest 
of five children of Daniel aud Abigail 
Huffman. His father was born in Switz- 
erland August 15, 1798, and in 1803 came 
to America with his father, and located in 
Washington County, Penu. In 1815 they 
moved to Ohio, and located at Slanker- 
ville, now known as Eastou, and there 
Daniel was married, in 1820, to Abigail, 
daughter of Henry Franks, who came to 
Wayne Coiinty from Fayette County, 
Peun., in 1816, and settled on a farm he 
entered from the Government, in Chippewa 
Township, south of Doylestown. He 
(Henry Franks) was captured by the 
Indians when a young man, and was kept 
by them five years. He was tall, straight 
and of a powerful build, and was fancied 
by the Indians, who at once introduced 
him to Indian citizenship by their cere- 
monies, which consisted first in running 
the gauntlet, and at the end of the race, to 
save his own life, he was compelled to 



strike down an Indian. This daring act on 
his part ingratiated him with his captors, 
and although he was also wounded, he was 
taken care of and treated kindly until 
fully recovered. Of Daniel Huffman's 
family one daughter died when nine years 
old; another daughter, Eliza, is the wife 
of Jacob Baysinger, of Doylestown ; 
Ephraim married Adaline Franks, and is 
living on the Franks homestead; Daniel 
married Catherine Wilhelm, aud is now 
living at Doylestown. 

Abram F. Huffman remained in Chip- 
pewa Township until about thirty years of 
age, when he bought a tract of land in 
Greene Township, which he improved and 
made his home iintil 1872, when he moved 
i to the village of Smithville, where he died 
August 14, 1886. Mr. Huffman being 
the eldest of the family, was obliged to 
assist his father in the work of the farm, 
and was able to attend school only during 
the winter mouths. He made the most 
of his limited advantages, aud acquired 
a good business education, becoming one 
of the best informed men on general 
subjects in the county. In his infancy 
he was baptized, and after reaching adult 
life he was converted and received into 
the Lutheran Church by Eev. William 
Baldsey, of Smithville. He remained in 
that church a number of years, when a 
Methodist Church was organized in the 
place, and he withdrew from the Lutheran 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



•293 



ami joined the Methodist Churcli, which 
had been his choice from childhood. He 
was an houored member of this church at 
the time of his death, and was a highly 
respected citizen. In politics he was a 
.strong Republican. 

Mr. Huffman was married, December 
3, 1856, to Elizabeth A. Eedinger, of Mil- 
tun Township, Wayne County, daughter 
of Frederick and Mary Redinger, who 
were of German and English descent. 
Mr. and Mrs. Huffman had but one child, 
a daughter, Carrie Bell, who was married 
April 14, 1884, to E. S. Roller, a drug- 
gist of Wooster. Mrs. Huffman now 
makes her home with her daughter, al- 
thougii she still owns the farm in Greene 
Township. The first death in Greene 
Township after its settlement was that of 
Christian Partshic, who died December 
27, 1817, and was buried on the farm now 
owned by Mrs. Huffman. 




Y. LANDIS, dealer in furniture, 
and undertaker, of Wooster, Ohio, 
was born in Lehigh County, 
Penn., June 2G, 184G. His father, Will- 
iam Landis, was also a native of that 
county, and was a minister of the Men- 
nouite Church, and his parents had also 
been Pennsylvauians. William Landis 



was married to Mary Young, born in the 
same State, and by that union they were 
the parents of eight children, six of whom 
are yet living, three in Wayne County, 
Ohio. The father passed from earth in 
1848, at the comparatively early age of 
forty-nine years, and in 1858 the mother 
came with her children to Wayne County, 
and was married to Christian Burkey, of 
Chester Township, where she yet resides, 
aged eighty- two years. 

The subject of this memoir, when quite 
young, began to learn the trade of har- 
ness-making, and, after completing his 
apprenticeship, followed it for several 
years, for four years having a shop of his 
own. He next turned his attention to 
cabinet-making, and has now been in that 
business about twenty years. In 1882 he 
formed a partnership with William 
George, which continued for six years, it 
being dissolved in the svimmer of 1888, 
when Mr. Landis embarked alone, on East 
Liberty Street, Wooster, in the furniture 
business, in which he keeps a full and 
complete stock. An important feature of 
his business is undertaking, to which he 
gives careful attention. In 1867 Mr. 
Landis was united in marriage with Miss 
Talitha, daughter of Daniel and Lydia 
Pittenger, and a native of Wayne County. 
Her father lives in Chester Township, 
where her mother died in the fall of 1887. 
Two children have been born to this 



294 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



uuion: Thomas, who died at the age of 
tour years, aud Maud, aged fifteen years. 
Mr. Landis is a Kepublicau in politics, 
and at one time was a member of the city 
council of Wooster. He is an active 
member of the Royal Arcanum, and was 
for some years an active member of the 
Volunteer Fire Department of Wooster. 
He is a self-made man, who began poor, 
but has by his perseverance, industry and 
l)usiness tact acquired a good position, 
and his success in life is a testimony to 
his upright and straightforward business 
principles. As an honest and capable 
merchant, and a progressive citizen, hav- 
ing the interests of the county at heart, 
he is rightly held in esteem by everyone 
who knows him. 



-rjr/ EPHANIAH LOVETT, son of Ja- 

X cob and Christeua Anne (Trollin- 

' ger) Lovett, was born in Allegany 

County. Md., October 12, 1826. His pa- 
ternal and maternal grandparents were 
residents of that county, where Jonas 
Lovett was married and reared a family 
of cliildren, as follows: John, Samuel, 
Daniel, Henr)', AVilliam, Britton, Jonas, 
Gal)riel, Jacob and three daughters. Of 
tliese, Jacob the father of Zephaniah, was 
born in Maryland in ITOil. where lie mar- 
ried Christena Anne TroUinger, and 



where were born five children, viz. : 
James Hanson (deceased), Eosina, Eauon 
T., Clement S. (now a resident of Mon- 
tana) aud Zephaniah. The family then 
removed to Holmes County, Ohio, where 
the remainder of the children were born, 
as follows: Martha, Allen, Euzilla ( de- 
ceased), Cedron E. and Octavia (deceased). 
Zephaniah received his education in 
i Holmes County, Ohio, aud there married, 
July 3, 18oG, Eliza Anne Esselborn. who 
died May 2, 1862. March 16, 1865, Mr. 
Lovett married Maria E. Spring. Mr. 
Lovett located in Shreve, Wayne County, 
in 1856, and has lived in the same house 
since that time. He followed the business 
of a contractor and builder for a period of 
twelve or fourteen years. He here built 
the steam saw-mill of Shreve, having a 
twenty-horse power engine, a planer, a 
cider- mill, etc., and in connection a lum- 
ber yard, supplying the adjoining country 
with its products. Mr. and Mrs. Lovett 
have two children, Edgar Odell aud Guy 
Dudley. The parents and sons are mem- 
bers of the Christian Church. Mr. Lovett 
is one of the prominent and successful 
business men of Shreve, and occupies a 
deservedly high place in the estimation 
of the people generally. In politics he is 
a stanch Democrat and an enthusiastic 
free trader. He has been the recipient 
of political honors by well-merited ail- 
vancement to various positions of trust. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



297 



' ffACOB KISSINGER is a son oi 
> li Peter aud Mary (Pechartl) Kissiii- 
— ' ger, natives of Cumberland County, 
Penn., who came to Wayne County, Ohio, 
about 1832, and located on a farm in 
Canaan Township, wliere the father died 
November 2, 1881, aged ninety years, and 
the mother June 22, 1873, aged sixty-five 
years. They reared ten children, as fol- 
lews: George, who died in Illinois; Ra- 
chel (wife of Robert Berkholder), Lucy 
(wife of Samuel Rhodes), Susan (wife of 
Frederick Fife), Rebecca (wife of David 
Hewitt), and Elizabeth (wife of A, E. 
Ebey), all of Canaan Township, Wayne 
County; Jane, wife of Samuel Baker, of 
Summit County, Ohio; Peter, residing in 
Milton Township, Wayne County; John, 
residing in Wayne Township, Wayne 
County, and Jacob. 

The siabject of this biography was born 
in Canaan Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
June 11, 1833. He obtained a limited 
education in the township schools, assist- 
ing his father to clear the homestead farm, 
where he was reared. He learned the 
carpenter's trade, which he followed many 
years, earning enough to purchase his 
present farm of 100 acres of land in Ca- 
naan Township, where he successfully 
carries on agricultural pursuits. Mr. Kis- 
singer has been lieutenant in Company 
K, Ohio National Guards. In 1805 he 
married Leah, daughter of Jonah Hunts- 



berger, of Canaan Township, Wayne 
County, and they have three children: 
Elmer T., Lola Pearl and Edward J. Mr. 
Kissinger is an active member of the 
Democratic party, and has filled the office 
of township constable for ten years, and 
has also served as school director, etc. 
He is a trustee of the Lutheran Church. 
Mr. Kissinger's paternal grandfather lived 
to the advanced age of ninety-eight years. 



l^ AMUEL FRANK, son of John and 
Esther (McConaughy) Frank, was 
born in Burgettstown, Washington 
Co., Penn., May 7, 1818. His pater- 
nal grandfather, Baltzer Frank, was a 
native of Germany, and immigrated to 
this country in an early day, locating in 
Pennsylvania, where his son John was 
born. The latter came to Wayne County, 
Ohio, and settled in Canaan Township in 
the fall of 1822, where he selected a heavy 
body of timber, which proved to be an 
excellent piece of land. Here he com- 
menced clearing up a farm, aud after 
man}- years of unceasing toil he succeeded 
in hewing out of the primitive forest a 
comfortable home. He died at the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-six years. His wife, 
Esther, was a native of Ireland, and was 
eleven years of age when her parents came 
to America; she died in her sovontv-fourth 



298 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



year. Mr. and Mrs. John Frank were 
life-long members of the Presbyterian 
Cimrch. 

Their sou Samuel, the subject of this 
sketch, was brought from his native home 
to Wayne County, Ohio, by his parents 
when four years of age. His educational 
opportunities were few, and he remained 
at home assisting his father in the farm 
work until he was thirty-five years old, 
when lie married, July 5, 1853, Miss 
Elizabeth Ann Shultz, who was born Jan- 
uary 21, 1827, in Dauphin County, Penn., 
a daughter of Jacob Shultz. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Frank were born seven children, as 
follows: Nancy, born in ISo-l, died in her 
ninth year; Maria J., born February 22, 
1856, became the wife of Jeremiali Bow- 
man, and died November 25, 1886; Mary 
A., boru February 16, 1858, is now living 
in Ashland County, Ohio; Ellen, born 
February 19, 1860, now the wife of John 
Worst, and living in Chester Township, 
Wayne Co., Ohio; Jacob, born February 
11, 1862, married the daughter of Charles 
Dyche, and also live.s in Chester Town- 
ship, Wayne County; Oliver E. was born 
August 28, 1864, married a daughter of 
Jacob Wohlgamuth, and resides on the 
old home place; John J., born November 
18, 1866, makes his home with his father 
at the old homestead. The mother of 
these children died October 18, 1886. 
She, as has also been her husband, was 



for many years identified with the origi- 
nal German Baptist Church. Samuel 
Frank can justly be classed among the 
pioneers of Wayne County, and has wit- 
nessed the many changes and improve- 
ments that have taken place in Congress 
and Canaan Townships within the past 
six or seven decades. He is still hearty 
and vigorous, taking active interest in 
his farm, on which he lives, and which 
was entered by Daniel Chasey, another of 
the sturdy pioneers of Congress Town- 
ship. Mr. Frank, with the exception of 
his sister, Mi"s. Robert McConaughy, is the 
only member of his father's family now 
living. In politics he is a Democrat. 



1^ 



HfENRY H. PLASTERER, sou of 
C. F. Plasterer, was born in Plain 
Township, Wayne County, Ohio, 
December 8, 1856, and was ed- 
ucated in the schools of his locality. 
His father came from Lancaster County, 
Penn., to Wayne County, Ohio, in 1852, 
and is now residing in Plain Township. 
He was the father of the following-named 
children: Henry H., Susan A., George 
W., Elizabeth, Matilda and John J., all 
now living. 

Of these, Henry H., whose name heads 
this biogra[)hical menu)ir, was married 
December 5, 1878, to May Abbey Horn,. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



299 



of Plaiu Towuship, Wayne County, daugh- 
ter of George W. Horn, formerly of Penn- 
sylvania, and their children were as fol- 
lows: Warren D., who died March 9, 
1880, aged one year; Milan Earl, born 
November 8, 1880, and Verna Loy, born 
Jnly 25, 1882. Mr. Plasterer was en- 
gaged in agricultural pursuits in Plain 
Township until February 12, 1887, when 
he embarked in mercantile business at 
Keedsburgh, same township, where he 
still carries on a general country store. 
He is also postmaster at Keedsburgh. 
He and his family are members of the 
Lutheran Church; politically he is a 
Democrat. 



P^ L. HOEN, of the well-known firm 
of Horn Bros., Wooster, Ohio, was 
born in that city October 24, 1814. 
His father, John P. Horn, was a 
native of Hesse - Darmstadt, Germany, 
who immigrated to America, and died in 
Wooster, December 12, 1888. Our sub- 
ject was educated in the schools of Woos- 
ter, and when a mere lad began to learn 
the trade of baker and confectioner, in the 
same building in which he is now carry- 
ing on his business. Before he was 
eighteen years of age he enlisted, August 
7, 1802, in Company I, One Hundred and 
Second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and at 



once was transferred to the front, where 
he saw active service until September 24, 
1804, when he was taken prisoner at the 
battle of Athens, Ala., and was confined 
at Cahaba, in that State, remaining there 
seven months. On being exchanged he 
was sent to Vicksburg, and was there un- 
til the close of the war. He was one of 
the passengers on the ill-fated "Sultana," 
which burned on the Mississippi, April 
27, 1805, with such a fearful loss of life, 
the most appalling disaster ever known 
on the mighty "Father of Waters." On 
being hurled from the boat on the ex- 
plosion of the boilers he managed to keep 
afloat, and drifted down the river two 
miles past the city of Memphis, nine 
miles from the scene of the disaster, 
where he was picked up by the crew of 
a gun-boat, one of the few survivors of 
that memorable night. May 20, 1805, he 
was honorably discharged, and returned 
to his home after an absence of nearly 
three years. 

In April, 1800, our subject entered into 
business with his brother, John B. Horn, 
who had also served his country, and 
their brotherly co-pai'tnership has con- 
tinued ever since. A sketch of John 
Horn is given on another page of this 
volume. September 3, 1807, Mr. Horn 
was united in marriage with Miss Emma 
Nachtrieb, daughter of Jonas Nachtrieb, 
and a native of Wooster, where both her 



300 



WAVNE COUNTY. 



parents died. They were of German 
birth, and were early settlers of Wooster, 
coming to that place from Pennsylvania. 
Of this union three children were born: 
Charles, Anna and Jennie, all still iinder 
the parental roof. 

Mrs. Horn, her eldest daughter and son 
are members of the church. Mr. Horn is 
a member of the Odd Fellows order and 
the Grand Army of the Republic. In 
politics he is a stanch Republican. He 
has made his way in the world iinassisted, 
and from a small beginning has hewed 
out for himself an honorable position and 
a comfortable competence, besides gain- 
ing the universal good-will and esteem of 
those who know him as an honorable man. 



d[OSEPH DAVIDSON (deceased) 
j was born in Westmoreland County, 
--- Penn., in 1821, a son of Jacob and 
Mary (Young) Davidson, who were the 
parents of ten children, five sons and five 
daughters. Joseph Davidson remained 
in his native county until 1803, when he 
came to Wayne County, Ohio, and bought 
253 acres of land in Wayne Township, 
Avhich he made his home the rest of his 



Mr. Davidson was a hard-working 



life. 

man, and his success iu life was due large- 
ly to his own lal)or, economy and good 
management. He gave his children good 



educational advantages, and thus fitted 
them for the responsibilities of life. He 
was a kind and indulgent husband and 
father, a good neighbor, and was respected 
by all who knew him. 

He was married in 1844- to Lucinda 
M., daughter of Daniel and Sarah (Wood) 
Phillips, of Fayette County, Penn., and 
to them was born a family of nine chil- 
dren: Jacob, Daniel, Samuel, Hannah 
Jane, Sarah E., Mary, Bertha L. and 
Joseph N. (deceased), and Anne M. In 
politics Mr. Davidson was a Republican. 
He was a member, as are also his family, 
of the River Brethren Church. He died 
July 23, 1883, aged sixty-two years, three 
months and ten days. 



1^ O. SMYSER, farmer, Chester Town- 
ship, is a native of Chester Town- 
— ship, Wayne Co., Ohio, born Novem- 
ber 10, 185(5, and is one of the represent- 
ative young men of his county. His 
parents, Martin and Anne (Boffenmyre) 
Smyser, had a family of seven children, 
but three of wln)m are living, viz. : Eliza- 
beth, wife of Rev. A. Z. Thomas; Emma, 
now Mrs. Maurer, and I. O. Martin 
Smyser was one of the well-to-do men of 
the county. In early life he was engaged 
in milling and distilling, but subsequently 
he devoted his attention to agriculture. 



]VAYNE COUNTY. 



301 



He was a devoted member of the Lutheran 
Church. He died January 2. 1887, aged 
seventy-eight years. His widow is now 
living in her home at Keedsburgh. 

I. O. Smyser has from his youth de- 
voted his attention to farming, and now 
owns 140 acres of valuable land. He was 
married in 1880 to Miss Edith Falor, 
daughter of George W. Falor, of Woos- 
ter, Ohio. Mr. Falor died October 25, 
1885. Mr. and Mrs. Smyser have one 
daughter, Delpha May, born August 6, 
1SS7. In politics Mr. Smyser is a Re- 
publican. He is a member of the 
Lutheran Church. 



JOHN B. HORN, member of the 
^^ Ij firm of Horn Bros., bakers and con- 
^-^ fectioners, Wooster, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, was born in that city, September 
20, 1812. His father, John Philip Horn, 
was born near Worms, Hesse-Darmstadt, 
(where his ancestors had resided for many 
generations), and died December 12, 1888. 
He immigrated to America in 1838, com- 
ing to Wooster, and soon after was married 
to Miss Barbara Speng, a native of 
France, who came to this country . with 
her parents about 1828 or 1829. They 
settled in Wayne County, Ohio, where 
both her father and mother died. John 
P. Horn and wife had twelve children, of 



whom the following nine yet survive: 
Henry, a baker, now in Wooster, this 
county; Edward, who is a jeweler, lives in 
Lima, Ohio; Emma is wife of Hiram 
Plank, of Galion, Ohio; Julius is a ma- 
chinist, now in Wooster; William is in 
McClure's grocery, in Wooster; Catherine, 
Tillie, Philip L. and John B. 

When our subject was a young man he 
learned the trade of shoe-making in 
Wooster, at which he worked until the 
spring of 18G2, when he enlisted in Com- 
pany I, One Hundred and Second Ohio 
Infantry, and served neai'Iy three years 
in the ranks of his country's defenders. 
For a part of this time he was confined 
in the hospital six weeks, and on May 18, 
1865, was honorably discharged, but was 
unable to leave the hospital until June, 
when he i-eturned to Wooster, and there 
spent the following year in regaining his 
lost health. In the spring of 1866 he 
formed the present existing partnership 
with his brother, P. L. (of whom see a 
sketch elsewhere in this volume), and 
they have since successfully conducted 
the bakery business. 

In July, 1867, John B. Horn was unit- 
ed in marriage with Miss Odelia, daugh- 
ter of R. H. and Catherine Laubach, and 
a native of Pennsylvania. Both her [)ar- 
euts are now living. To Mr. Horn and 
wife have been born four children: AUie, 
Lillio and Harry, living under the pa- 



302 



WAYNE COUXTY. 



rental roof, and Florence (deceased). Mi*. 
Horn is a worthy citizen of Wooster, 
where he has spent his entire life, with 
the exception of the time he was in his 
country's service, and no man iu it bears 
a higher character for integrity. He is 
succeeding in his business, and his suc- 
cess is well deserved. Politically the Re- 
publican party finds in him a warm sup- 
porter, and the G. A. R. counts him 
among its worthy members. 



■^ EORGE W. BLANDFORD, of the 
firm of Logan & Blandford, of 
Wooster, Wayne Co., Ohio, was 
born iu Loudon, England, July 5, 
1852. George Blandford, his father, was 
a book-keeper in his native laud, aud was 
there married to Sarah Stone, whose par- 
ents both died in England, where she was 
born. By this union they have a family 
of six childreu, all now residents of Wayne 
Couuty. The family came to America in 
1858, locating fiii-st iu Stark Couuty, Ohio, 
but the following year they removed to 
Wooster. since which time the father has 
beeu iu the employ of the Wooster Gas 
Compauy. 

The subject of these liues was educated 
iu the common schools of Wooster, and 
when about eighteen years old began 
learning the plumbing aud gas-fitting 



trade in Wooster, following that trade 
there for six years. Four years succeed- 
ing that time he was engaged in the hard- 
ware business in Apple Creek, in Wayne 
County, and then for seven years Avas iu 
the grocery trade in that place. In 1888 
he formed the partnership with his father- 
in-law. In 1872 he was united iu mar- 
riage with Miss Mary Ida Logan, daugh- 
ter of Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Logan. Oue 
child has been boru to them, whom they 
have named Earl Allison Blandford. 

Mr. Blandford and family are active 
and respected members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. Politically he is an 
advocate of the principles of the Repub- 
lican party; socially he is a member of 
the Odd Fellows order. He has earned 
by a life of industry and honorable con- 
duct the success which he has made, aud, 
starting with uo assistance, he has been 
the architect of his owu fortunes, having 
supported himself since he was twelve 
years of age, and acquired his own edu- 
cation. To-day none of the younger busi- 
ness men of Wooster is held in higher 
esteem than George W. Blandford. 



OLOMON R. KING, farmer ou Sec- 
tion 13, Greene Township, Wayne 
Couuty, is a son of Jacob aud 
Rebecca (Zook) King. He was the fourth 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



303 



of the cliildreu, ami wns born ou the 
homestead iu Greeue Township, Decem- 
ber 9, 184G. He was brought up to farm- 
ing, at which he worked summers while 
young, attending the district schools in 
the winters. He continued to live with 
his father until his marriage, when he 
bought from his wife's father the farm 
which has ever since been his home. 
The log cabin in which they first lived 
is still standing, and is regarded with 
considerable affection by the family, all the 
children except the youngest having been 
born in it. It has witnessed their early 
sorrows, and resounded with their shouts 
of mirth. The fine house and outbuild- 
ings were erected by Mr. King, and his 
farm has been brought into an excellent 
state of cultivation. 

December 19, 1867, he was married to 
Miss Lydia, daughter of Stephen Slirock, 
one of the first settlers iu Wayne County. 
Mr. and Mrs. King are the parents of six 
children, still living under the parental 
roof. Their names are Noah William, 
born January 26, 1869; Amelia, born 
September 13, 1871; Sarah M., born 
March 29, 1S74; David E., born Septem- 
ber 21, 1876; Ira S., born November 18, 
1878, and Harvey J., born November 29, 
1884. Mr. King's life-long occupation 
has been that of a farmer, never having 
engaged in any other occupation. He 
and his wife are members of the Oak 



Grove Mennonite Church, and among the 
best known and most highly respected 
citizens of Wayne County. He holds a 
foremost rank as a man of integrity and 
irreproachable character. 




ENDELL YOUNG. This well- 
known citizen of Wooster was 
born iu Germany, July 12, 1820, 
where his father, Wendell Young, Sr., 
died. He was married to Dorothea Montz, 
who bore him seven children. Two of 
these ai-e now living in Wayne County, 
our subject and his sister Lena. When 
twenty-six years of age our subject immi- 
grated to America, locating in Wooster, 
this county, which has ever since been liis 
home. In 1848 he was married to Miss 
Rosa Hahn, also of German birth, and 
they became the parents of seven children, 
as follows: Rosa, now wife of William 
Shibley, of Wooster; Edward, Amelia, 
Kate, Anna and Albert, all living at home, 
and August, who is deceased. 

When Mr. Young first came to Woos- 
ter lie worked at odd jobs, or whatever he 
could find to do. Being both industrious 
and frugal, and having the aid of a faith- 
ful wife, he prospered, and in 1864 erected 
a brewery, which he operated until 1878, 
when it burned down. He then erected 
another l)uilding, and started a bottling 



304 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



works for beer, mineral waters, etc., and 
iu that business has continued until the 
present time. He has made his own way 
in the world, starting poor and without 
any help, and has attained an honorable 
position, both financially and socially, his 
success being the result of his own indus- 
try and thrifty habits, and the honorable 
name he bears, which has contributed 
largely to his success. He lias helped 
every movement for the benefit of his 
adopted city, and is to-day a well-known 
and highly respected citizen, well spoken 
of by all. He and wife are members of 
the Lutheran Church of Woostor. 



CHARLES BOYDSTON was born 
October 25, 1816, in Greene Town- 
ship, Wayne Co., Ohio, and is a son 
of Thomas and Emily (Burris) Boydston, 
the father a native of Greene County, Pa., 
and the mother of Monongalia County, 
Va. They came to Wayne County, Ohio, 
iu ISIO, entering a tract of land in Greene 
Township, and after living there a few 
years they [)urchased another farm in 
East Union Township, where they passed 
the remainder of their days. The father 
died in Orrville in 18G3, and the mother 
in East Union in 1824, both being promi- 
nent members of the Methodist EjDiscopal 
Church. Mr. Boydston, Sr., was thrice 



married. By his first wife, nee Emily 
Burris, he had six children, all of whom 
are dead except Charles, the subject of 
this memoir; his second wife was Mary 
Breakfield, who only lived a short time 
after marriage. 

Charles Boydston, whose name heads 
this sketch, was reared as a farmer, an 
occupation he has always followed, and 
moved onto his present farm in East 
Union Township in 1852. In 1840 he 
married Miss Sarah, daughter of Josiah 
Milbourn, of East Union Township, 
Wayne County. She died in 1879, leav- 
ing nine children, as follows: Sophrouia, 
now Mrs. Henry Shriber, of Orrville, 
Ohio ; Emeline, now Mrs. James McFad- 
den, of Henry County, Mo. ; Emily, now 
Mrs. Jonathan Piper, of Burt County, 
Neb. ; Aurilla, wife of J. E. Barrett, of 
Wooster; Horace G., in Nebraska; 
Delinda, at home; Charles W., iu Henry 
County, Mo. ; May, now Mrs. Adam D. 
Schultz, of Apple Creek, Wayne County, 
and Sarah, at home. Mr. Boydston is a 
Republican in politics. 



EiDWARD GEISELMAN, a well- 
known citizen of Wooster, Wayne 

' Co., Ohio, is a native of Stark 

County, Ohio, born in January, 1835. 
His grandfather, Jacob Geiselman, was a 




-:z'-^-y<v^jfjr 



. ^ ^P" 



,^"^^^^^4^ 0^-y/=^^^^ 



WAVNE COUNTY. 



SOI 



uative o£ New York, who came to Woos- 
ter, this county, at an early day, where 
he kept tlie first hotel, and spent the 
remainder of his days. John Geiselman, 
father of Edward, was born in Ohio, and 
in his youth learned the trade of black- 
smith in Wooster. Upon reaching man- 
hood he was married in that place to 
Sarah Miller, a native of Pennsylvania, 
who came to Wayne County with her [lar- 
ents. Of this mariiiige three children 
were born: Cyreiiius, who is deceased; 
Charlotte, now wife of James Mclntyre, 
and living in California, and Edward. 

The subject of this biographical sketch 
spent his early life on the farm, and re- 
mained with his parents until he was 
twenty-one years of age, when he was 
married to Miss Emeline Culbertson, a 
native of Wayne County, and a grand- 
daughter of John and Jane Culbertson, 
both of whom are deceased. Our subject 
and wife liave had seven children born to 
them, namely: John W., Cyrenius M., 
Harvey, Elmer, Eli K. and Emma, all liv- 
ing in Wooster, and all the sons engaged 
in farming except Eli K., the youngest, 
will) is in the clothing store with Mr. Sich- 
ley, and Clara Etta, now wife of Lewis 
Grenwald, living in Wayne County. In 
l.S()S Mr. Geiselman engaged in the sale 
of agricultural implements for the Mc- 
Donald Company for ten years, which 
connection was later dissolved. With the 



exception of five years, which he spent on 
his farm in East Union and Franklin 
Townships, this has been his occupation 
since. In 1882 he left the farm, and, com- 
ing back to Wooster, has resided there to 
the present time. 

By perseverance and liusiness tact Mr. 
Geiselman has made a success in life, and 
is universally recognized as one of Wayne 
County's substantial citizens, respected 
and honored wherever he is known, and 
the entire family stand high in the esti- 
mation of the people. In politics he is a 
Democrat, buthis political action is guided 
by well-considered motives rather than 
by partisan feeling. Socially he is a 
member of the Odd Fellows order. 



HERMAN J. HUFFMAN. This 
1^ popular young merchant was born 
in Chippewa Township, AVayne 
County, January 10, 1805, and is a sou 
of Daniel V. and Catherine (Wilhelm) 
Huffman. His paternal grandfather and 
great-grandfather settled in Chippewa 
Township, this county, in 1814. Our 
subject was reared in his native township, 
and was educated in the public schools of 
Doylestown. In 1883 he engaged in the 
drug business in Doylestown, as a partner 
with Charles McCormish, with whom Ijo 



17 



308 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



was associated six months. lu 1885 he 
entered the employ of the Cleveland, Lor- 
ain & Wheeling Kailroad Company as 
agent for their Doylestown trade, which 
position he held eight months. In 
October, 1886, he embarked in the boot 
and shoe business, and by his uniform 
courtesy to all and strict attention to the 
wants of his customers he has built up a 
large business, which is daily increasing. 
November 16, 1887, he married Minnie 
B., daughter of Jacob HoUinger, of Clin- 
ton, Ohio. He is a member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church and Knights of 
Pythias. In politics he is a Eepublican. 



r^Nj OBERT ORE (deceased) was born 
rf\^ in East Union Township, Wayne 
JJ - Co., Ohio, in 1818, and died in 
Canaan Townsliip, same county, in 
1866. His father, Hugh Orr, was a na- 
tive of Ireland, and one of the very early 
settlers of Wayne County. He married 
Nancy Steele, and entered a tract of land 
in East Union Township; afterward 
moved to Canaan Township. Robert 
Orr was reared on the farm, and always 
followed an agricultural life. In 1846 
he married Miss Castilla, daughter of 
Thomas and Jemimah Dawson, natives of 
Western Virginia, and settlers in Milton 
Township, Wayne County, Ohio, and after 



their marriage they located on a farm in 
Canaan Township. Mr. Orr was a mem- 
ber of the Whig and afterward of the 
Democratic party, and filled the township 
offices of assessor, constable, school di- 
rector, etc. He was a prominent memlier 
of the Jackson Presbyterian Church for 
many years, having united with it when 
twenty-two years of age. 

Only one child was born to him: Wil- 
son Shannon Orr, who was born in Ca- 
naan Township, December 28, 18-47. He 
was reared on the farm, and educated in 
the township schools and the Smithville 
and Canaan Academies, attending also 
Mount Union College for one term. After 
the death of his father, he remained 
on the homestead for a few years, and 
was engaged in teaching school. He 
then attended the Western Reserve Col- 
lege, near Cleveland, from which he 
graduated at the age of twenty-four years. 
Soon after this Mr. Orr was united in 
marriage with Martha, daughter of 
Zeuos Z. Crane, of Jackson, Wayne 
County, He then entered the law office 
of Col, Wiley, at Wooster, and in due 
time was admitted to the Wayne County 
bar, where he practiced his profession un- 
til his death, which occurred September 
1, 1888. He was one of the bright 
young attorneys of the Wooster bar, and 
his future was full of hope. He was a 
Republican in politics, and a strong sup- 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



309 



porter of the temperance cause. Like 
his father, he joined the Jackson Presby- 
terian Church at an early age, and was 
one of its prominent members. His 
widow and three chiklreu, Ethel, Ger- 
trude and Robert, reside in AVooster, 
Ohio. Mrs. Castilla Orr, the widow of 
Robert Orr, still resides on the home- 
stead in Canaan Township, in the enjoy- 
ment of good health, at the age of 
seventy years. 




ISS SARAH GRADY. This es- 
timable lady is a native of Greene 
^ Township, Wayne County, and a 

daughter of John and Elizabeth 
Grady, who came from Pennsylvania in 
1818, and settled upon a farm in the town- 
ship named, when it was covered with 
dense forest, which the pioneers had to 
cut away to make room for their log 
cabin. The father was a cooper by trade, 
but after settling in this county gave his 
attention principally to this farm. His 
parents were natives of Pennsylvania. 
The pioneer and his family lived the usual 
life of those brave and hardy spirits who 
rescued this beautiful and fertile land 
from the primeval forest, making it one 
of the most productive parts of this rich 
commonwealth. Hardships were cheer- 
fully endured, of which the present gen- 



eration know but little, except by hearsay, 
and the reward was the broad and fertile 
acres which gradually took the place of 
the forest, leveled by the ax. To this 
worthy couple were born eight children, 
three of whom are now living. The wife 
and mother passed from earth in January, 
1861, aged sixty-five j'cars, having been 
born November 8, 1795, the husband and 
father following her to the grave in June, 
1864, at the ripe age of seventy-nine 
years, Iieing born November 25, 1785. 
They were upright, God-fearing people, 
and were universally respected. 

The subject of this sketch was burn 
May 17, 1818, just after her parents came 
to Wayne County, and she remained with 
them as long as they lived, helping, even 
as a child, in the necessary work of the 
pioneer, often rolling logs, burning brush, 
and doing any manual work of which she 
was capable. She was also taught to spin, 
and was, and is yet, capable of doing good 
work. At the death of her father she in- 
herited the homestead, on which she lived 
until 1868, when she sold it and removed 
to Wooster, which has since been her 
home. The life of Miss Grady has been 
a busy one, and she has been a witness of 
and participant in the work of building 
up tliis county to its present proud posi- 
tion. The incidents of her early life are 
yet fresh in her memory, and her recital 
of them is interesting. When she first 



310 



WAY^^E COUNTY. 



attended school she had to go by a blazed 
path through the woods to the old log 
school -house, where the rudiments of edu- 
cation were instilled into the minds of the 
children of the pioneers. Her parents 
were members of the Baptist Church (as 
she had been all her adult life), and 
services were held in their house for many 
years. She well remembers attending 
church at the court-house in Wooster 
when guards were placed at the doors. 

Miss Grady has ever been noted for 
benevolence, and a desire to do all the 
good she could to her fellow-beings. She 
adopted a soldier's orphan, Sadie Frazier, 
then a young child, but who now, grown 
to womanhood, still makes her home with 
her foster-mother, for whom she has all a 
chikrs love and respect. Miss Grady has 
a brother, Israel Grady, living iu Wayne 
County, where he is well known, and she 
has one living in Kansas. For her many 
admirable traits of character, and her 
charity and benevolence, this much es- 
teemed lady is justly held iu high regard 
in the county of her birth. 



THOMAS McELHENIE AND DE- 
SCENDANTS. The McElhenie 
familj' has been prominently iden- 
tified with the history and affairs of 
Chippewa Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, 



and, to a greater or less extent, with the 
county itself, for more than half a cent- 
ury, and it is fitting that mention of the 
family should be made in this work. 
Thomas McElhenie was of Scotch-Irish 
descent, his paternal ancestors coming 
from the land of Burns and Scott, and 
those on his maternal side from the 
"Emerald Isle." There is no authentic 
record of their immigration to America, 
nor of the early history of the family 
prior to the advent of the member whose 
name heads this sketch. Thomas McEl- 
henie was born iu Huntingdon County, 
Penn., March 2(3, 1787, and was one of a 
large family of children. That he stood 
in a line of multiplying people is evi- 
denced by the fact that persons of the 
same name, whose ancestry hailed from 
the same locality, are widely and thickly 
scattered over the country (many of them 
having come directly from Great Britain ), 
and by the further fact that his own pos- 
terity comprise no inconsiderable num- 
ber. In his early years he taught school, 
afterward engaging iu agricultural pur- 
suits. December 12, 1812, he married 
Margaret Eaken, of Centre County, Penn., 
also of Scotch-Irish parentage. Her fa- 
ther was the youngest of eleven brotliers, 
and of her own family but little is known, 
except that two of her brothers, Robert 
and Andrew Eaken, were afterward resi- 
dents of Chippewa Township, Wayne 



County, the latter liaviug been an ensign 
with Commodore Perry in his famous bat- 
tle on Lake Erie, and the fourth man to 
board the British fleet. Mr. McElheuie 
lived for fifteen years on one of the many 
farms owned by James Duncan, in Penn's 
Yalley, and in the winter season was one 
of the many who carried on trade between 
Pittsburgh and Philadelphia by teaming 
across the mountains. To him were born 
nine children, sis sons and three daugh- 
ters. Two sons died in infancy, and the 
rest of the children were as follows: 
"William, John, Margaret C, Elizabeth K., 
James E., Thomas J. and Jane. In 1833 
Mr. McElhenie made a prospecting tour 
to Ohio, and in May, 1834, he purchased 
eighty acres of land near Easton, in Chip- 
pewa Township, on the bank of the Big 
Chippewa Creek, and opened a tavern, 
which he kept several years. In 1814 he 
sold his farm, and located in Easton, where 
he built a large house, at the east end of 
the village, now owned and occupied by his 
youngest son, Thomas J. Before he left 
Pennsylvania he had held the office of 
Justice of the Peace, his commission from 
Gov. Gregg being still in the possession 
of his son, Thomas J. Soon after coming 
to Ohio he was elected to the same office, 
which he continued to hold for several 
terms. As a magistrate he always en- 
deavored to induce litigants to compro- 
mise rather than to go on with a suit. 



Upon his first election his wife's nephew, 
John Eaken, then a cabinet-maker in the 
neighborhood, said: "Now, uncle, you 
must have a chair and desk in keeping 
with the dignity of your office," and made 
the same, which are still in possession of 
the son, who for many yeai-s used them in 
his administration of the same office (as 
will be mentioned farther on). Mr. Mc- 
Elhenie was a man of sterling character, 
one of the sturdy yeomanry who braved the 
trials of pioneer life, and out of the wild 
chaos forged the chain of civilization which 
brought the great State of Ohio to its pres- 
ent proud position in the galaxy of States. 
Some time after moving over to the village 
Mr. McElhenie opened a store, afterward 
taking his youngest son, Thomas J., into 
partnership with him, and they continued 
in business there until a short time before 
the War of the Eebellion, when they were 
overcome by the effects of the panic of 
1857. Mr. McElhenie afterward lived the 
quiet life suited to his years, and on April 
23, 1871, he died, at the age of eighty-four 
years. His wife, Margaret, born July 12, 
1793, survived until November 22, 1874, 
when she died at the residence of her 
youngest daughter, Mrs. Jane Brattin, 
near Easton. Of their children, William, 
I who was a tailor by trade, was twice mar- 
ried, and died at Mendota, 111. (a portion 
of iiis family now reside at La Salle, 111. ) ; 
John married Sarah Brouse, and reared a 



312 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



large family (they uow reside iu Steiibeu 
County, Ind. ) ; Margaret C. married 
Ephraim Martin, and became the mother 
of four children (he is dead, and she lives 
with a daughter at Mogadore, Ohio) ; Eliz- 
abeth K. married Michael D. Dague (they 
live in Doylestown, Oiiio, and are referred 
to at length elsewhere in this work); 
James E., who was twice married, and 
reared a large family, is uow a resident of 
Steuben County, Ind. ; Thomas J. ; Jane, 
the youngest, married George W. Brattin 
(they now live in Williams County, Ohio). 
Thomas J. McElhenie was born iu Cen- 
tre County, Penn., July 4, 1826, the day 
iipon which ex-Presidents John Adams 
and Thomas Jefferson died, and was 
named in honor of the latter. He was 
reared iu Chippewa Township from eight 
years of age, and his education was ob- 
tained at the district schools, the famous 
McGregor Academy, at Wadsworth, and 
under "Priest" Abbott, the Presbyterian 
minister at Doylestown. Like his father, 
he taught school for some time, then went 
into the store with his father. March 22, 
1848, Mr. McElhenie married Sarah B., 
daughter of Abram Van Emau, a stanch 
Presbyterian farmer of Lawrence Town- 
ship, Stark Co., Ohio. Upon the failure 
of the firm, iu 1859, and during the auc- 
tion sale which followed, he kept a restau- 
rant, which grew through several stages 
until by 1872-73 (at tlie time of the 



building of the railroad through the vil- 
lage) he was occupying the old store- 
room, greatly enlarged, and doing a large 
business. For several years he held the 
office of Justice of the Peace, and was 
also Constable and Township Trustee. 
In 1874 he was elected to the office of 
County Auditor, in which capacity he 
served with credit to himself and the 
county for four years, or two successive 
terms. After retiring from office he en- 
gaged in the grocery business at Wooster, 
Ohio, but sold out the next fall, and re- 
turned to Easton, where he had invested 
his means in land adjoining the village, 
which he still owns and cultivates. After 
returning to Chippewa Township he was 
elected Constable until the office of Jiis- 
tice of the Peace became vacant, when he 
was again chosen to that office, holding 
the same until 1888, when he declined to 
serve longer, saying that, as he had held 
the office seven terms, or one term longer 
than any other man in the township, he 
felt that his ambition ought to be satis- 
fied. His children were nine in number, 
of whom four grew to maturity, viz. : 
Thomas D., James V., Mary B. and Lil- 
lian M. Of these, Thomas D. learned the 
drug business in Wooster, graduating at 
the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 
1872, and is now a prominent druggist of 
Brooklyn, N. Y. He married Miss Belle 
Osborne, of Wooster. Ohio. James V., 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



313 



the second sou, was brought up behind 
the counter in his father's store; attended 
Smithville High School a few terms; 
taught school one term ; occupied various 
clerical positions, including about two 
j-ears' service in the County Auditor's 
office with his father, and upon the retire- 
ment of the latter he jDurchased the office 
of the Journal newspaper at Doylestown 
from its founder, G. W. Everts, which he 
conducted until 1883, in which year, on 
account of ill health, he sold out to G. A. 
Corbus, of Wooster. March 29, 1881, 
Mr. McElhenie married Miss Laura J. 
France, of Wooster, one of whose grand- 
fathers was John Lehman, who died in 
Wayne Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, in 
188(1, at the age of ninety-four. She 
died October 27, 1883, leaving one child, 
Paul. After a variety of experiences, 
six months in Nebraska, two years of 
farming, and the establishment of the 
Sim newspaper at Fredericksburgh, to- 
gether with its management for nine 
months, Mr. McElhenie again found him- 
self, in October, 1887, in charge of the 
Doylestown Journal, under a lease. In 
March following he purchased the office 
outright, and continues in charge at this 
writing. On December 13, 1888, Mr. 
McElhenie again entered the marriage 
relation, his wife being Miss Anna Hawk- 
ins, of Fredericksburgh, a granddaughter 
of Joseph Hawkins, one of the early set- 



tlers of the county. Her father was 
chief musician of the One Hundred and 
Twentieth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer In- 
fantry, during the War of the Rebellion, 
and was confined in Libby and Camp 
Ford (Tyler, Tex.) prisons. Mary B. 
and Lillian M. remain at home in Easton 
with their parents. 



<^ 



MRS. MARY JANE MYERS. This 
well-known lady has been a resi- 
dent of Wayne County all her 
life, having been born in Wooster 
Township, May 22, 1824. Her father, 
John Kauke, a native of Holland, came to 
America with his parents when a small 
boy. They stopped for a time in Penn- 
sylvania, when Christopher, grandfather 
of Mrs. Myers, came to Wayne County, 
in which he passed the remainder of his 
life. The family made the journey in 
covered wagons. John Kaukegrew to man- 
hood in Pennsylvania, and there learned 
the trade of shoe-making. He was mar- 
ried to Miss Mary Hoover, who was born 
about seven miles from Wilkes Barre, 
Peun., in which State both her parents 
died. John Kauke and his wife came to 
Wayne County about 1816, and he there 
engaged in the manufacture of brick, 
making some of the first ever burnt in 



314 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Wooster. Both he aud his wife died in 
this county. 

AVhen she was seventeen years of age 
Mary Jane Kauke was united in marriage 
with John Myers, a native of Columbiana 
County, Ohio, whose father, also named 
John, was born in Pennsylvania, and came 
as a pioneer to Wayne County. The lat- 
ter was a wagoner, and teamed between 
Baltimore and Pittsburgh when goods 
were transported altogether by wagon. 
John Myers, husband of our subject, 
learned the trade of carpentering in his 
native county, and worked at it after 
coming to this county. For three years 
after their marriage the young couple 
lived in what is known as the haunted 
house, in AVooster Township. On the 
death of his mother they went to live with 
his father, staying with him two years, and 
then removing to a farm in Chester Town- 
ship, remaining on it for twelve years. 
His father dying, they again went to the 
old homestead for three years, after which 
they returned to their own farm. In 1870 
the family removed to the house the father 
had Imilt in Wooster, which is Mrs. Myers' 
present home, and lived there five years, 
but in the fall of 1873 death took from 
the family circle two sons and a daughter- 
in-law, and the afflicted parents again re- 
turned to their farm, trying by active la- 
bor to assuage their grief. In the spring 
of 1884 the grim reaper again invaded 



their hearthstone, this time taking away 
the husband and father, at the age of 
sixty-seven years. -John Myers was a 
prominent man in the county, and exer- 
cised a considerable influence in its affairs. 
He was well known and much respected 
by those who knew him, and left behind 
not only a competence, but the better her- 
itage of a good name. In politics he was 
a stanch Republican, and while a resident 
of Chester Township was for many years 
township assessor and township trustee. 

By her marriage with Mr. Myers our 
subject became the mother of eight chil- 
dren, of whom we make the following 
record: John H. died in childhood; Wal- 
ter M. entered the army during the 
Civil War, in the 100-day men, and died 
while in the service, of typhoid fever; 
Samuel B., or " Doc," as he was familiar- 
ly called, is also deceased, he aud his wife 
dying a few hours apart, of typhoid fever, 
leaving two children, Sydney D. and 
Laura B., who are being reared and edu- 
cated b}' Mrs. Myers; the next in order 
of birth is Mary Ellen, who is now Mrs. 
Snyder, of Chester Township; Charles is 
deceased; Brown is living in Nebraska; 
Grant is a book-keeper, and makes his 
home with his mother; aud an infant, who 
died unnamed, comj^letes the list. The 
fall following her husband's death Mrs. 
Myers came back to Wooster, ami has 
since made her liome in her pleasant 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



315 



house ou Saj-boklt Aveuue. For forty- 
eigbt years Mr. Myers has been a member 
of the Baptist Church, and his widow Las 
now been a member for the same number 
of years. All the children who grew to 
maturity also became members of the 
same church. The family is one of the 
oldest and best known in the county, and 
will long be remembered as among its 
worthy pioneers. They are esteemed and 
respected by every person with whom 
they come in contact. 




ILLIAM B. TAYLOR, a son of 
/If/ Josspl' Taylor, and grandson of 
John Taylor, was born in Canaan 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, August 18, 
181:9, and grew to manhood ou the old 
home place in Canaan Township, which 
was entered by his grandfather, John 
Ta3'lor. The latter was a native of 
Crawford County, Penn., and came to 
Wayne County, Ohio, in an early day, 
being among the early settlers of the 
county. He died aged ninety-four years. 
Joseph Taylor, father of William B., was 
a native of Wayne County, born in Canaan 
Township in 1814, and died May 18, 1870; 
his wife was Lucinda, daughter of Jacob 
Hartman, and was born near Troy, Ash- 
land Co., Ohio. In his father's will 
William B. Taylor was named as the ex- 



ecutor of the estate, and this trust he ful- 
filled with admirable satisfaction to all 
the heirs. The subject of this memoir 
received a common-school education, and 
was brought up to farm life. 

December 7, 1871, he married Miss 
Jane, daughter of William Kiser, one of 
the first settlers of Congress Township, 
Wayne County, and to this union four 
children were born: Kiser W., born 
March 14, 1875; Nellie M., March 23, 
1877; Norah A., January 12, 1879, and 
Clyde E., July 15, 1886. Mr. Taylor is 
at present a member of the Board of Trus- 
tees for Congress Township, and is serv- 
ing his third term. He and his wife are 
prominent members of the United Breth- 
ren Church. They own between them 262 
acres of as fine land as can be found in 
the State of Ohio. 



QEORGE STROCK, son of Conrad 
' and Mary (Wyrick) Strock, natives 
of Dauphin County, Penn., was born 
in that county and State Septem- 
ber 22, 1825, in November of which year 
the family moved to Wayne County, Ohio, 
first locating on what is now known as 
the Smith farm, in Plain Township. After 
remaining there four years, they moved 
into Wooster Township, where the parents 
spent the balance of their lives. They 



316 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



were prominent members of the German 
Lutheran Church. Conrad Strock was in 
early days an active Democrat, but later 
became a member of the Whig party, and 
held several township offices. Four of 
the children of Conrad and Mary Strock 
are yet living, viz.: Catherine, wife of 
Abraham Bechtel, in Plain Township, 
Wayne County; George; Jacob, in 
Holmes County, Oliio, and Daniel, on the 
homestead. 

Of these, George was reared on the 
farm, receiving an ordinary education, 
which he obtained by attending the 
winter terms of school, working during 
the summer months. In 1848 he married 
Miss Mary A., daughter of Peter Baum- 
gardner, of Wooster Township, Wayne 
County, and four children have been born 
to them, as follows: James Finley, in 
Plain Township, Wayne County, married 
Elizabeth Lowe, daughter of Benjamin 
Lowe, of Plain Township, and has five 
ciiildren: Ira Benjamin, M. Lunettie, M. 
Luella, George O. and Bessie; Daniel 
W., in Wooster Township, Wayne County, 
married Addie Troutmau, daughter of 
Philip Troutman, also of Wooster Town- 
ship, and has four children: Franklin, 
Jay, Earl and an infant; Leauder C, 
of Lake County, Ohio, has been twice 
married (his first wife died without issue; 
his present wife was Flora Cook, of Lake 
County, Ohio, and by her he has one 



child, Wilber Conrad) ; George B., living 
at home, married Kate Moore, daughter 
of Bryson Moore, and has one child, Gen- 
evieve B. Mr. Strock moved to his pres- 
ent farm of 165 acres, in Plain Township, 
Wayne County, in 1864. He has held 
the office of trustee of Clinton Township, 
Wayne County, also several offices in 
Plain TownshijD. He is identified with 
the Republican party. He and his wife 
are prominent members of the Milll^rook 
Baptist Church. 



diOHN LONG, JR. This well-known 
I native citizen of Wayne County, 
-^ now residing in the city of Wooster, 
was born in Wayne Township, four miles 
north of Wooster, on September 12, 1818. 
His father, John Long, Sr., was born neai' 
Coleraine, County Derry, Ireland, and 
when fourteen years of age came to 
America with his parents. They landed 
at New Castle, Del., and making their 
way into Pennsylvania, located at Carlisle 
Barracks, in Cumberland County, remov- 
ing two years later to Westmorelantl 
County, Penn., where they settled upon 
a farm which is yet in possession of 
the family, a period now of over ninety 
years. There the grandparents of oxir 
subject died, and there his father grew 



IVAYNE COUNT F. 



317 



to manhood. The latter was twice mar- 
ried, his first wife being Miss Phoebe 
Baylis, who died, leaving one child, El- 
len, who subsequently became the wife of 
George Keck, and removed to Hamilton, 
Butler Co., Ohio, where she died in No- 
vembei', 1887. The second wife of John 
Long, Sr., was Huldah Bird, daughter of 
William and Sarah (Randolph) Bird. 
Her mother was a descendant of a family 
of wealthy Boston merchants, whose prop- 
erty was confiscated by the British dur- 
ing the Revolution, because of their loy- 
alty to the cause of the struggling colo- 
nies. John and Huldah Ijong became 
the parents of eleven children, of whom 
six still survive: John, whose name 
heads this sketch, is the eldest of the 
family; Mary is the wife of James T. 
Atkinson, and lives in Wooster; Nancy, 
now Mrs. Litchfield, has been twice mar- 
ried, her first husband being Robert De 
Vinnie; William is living in Clinton 
Township, this county; Margai-et has 
also been twice married, her first husband, 
T. Bayliss, having been killed by Indians, 
and she is now the wife of a cousin, Rob- 
ert Long, and lives in Pennsylvania; 
Abalona, the last of the survivors, is wife 
of Champion Kinney, and lives in Canaan 
Township, Wayne County. 

The father of our subject, with others 
of the family, came to Wayne County at 
a day when there were but few settlers 



within its borders, and the whole county 
was covered with a dense forest. He 
cleared a small place, and remained here 
until some two years after the birth of 
our subject, to whom succeeded a girl, 
and then the father and mother took their 
two children and all their household goods 
on two horses, and removed to Armstrong 
County, Penn., where tbey stayed for two 
years, and where one more child was 
born to them being Mary, now Mrs. At- 
kinson, of Wooster. In Armstrong Coun- 
ty the family had hard times, and while 
still a child our subject was often carried 
by his mother two miles, together with a 
bushel of corn, which she ground in a 
hand mill, and then carried back again 
for the family use. About the year 1823 
the parents again came to Wayne County 
with their children. The journey had to 
be made on horseback, as there were no 
roads through the forest, and their only 
guide was a "blaze" on the trees. The 
father bought a farm in Congress Town- 
ship, and to that place they came. There 
wei'e many maple trees on the place, and 
the father made a sugar camp at once, as 
it was in sap season, and the sugar he 
obtained he traded for meat, pound for 
pound. The poverty of the family was a 
great bar to their early success. The 
father had no team, and got his laud 
plowed by working for neighbors, who in 
turn would come and help him with their 



318 



WAYAE COUNTY 



oxen. After much hard labor, the sturdy 
pioneer, who had wrought manfully in 
the face of many discouragements, brought 
his laud into something like a cultivated 
farm, and then sold it for $-400. With 
this he was enabled to buy a better place 
of eighty acres, within six miles of Woos- 
ter. The land which he sold has since 
become valuable, as it adjoins the now 
flourishing village of Burbank, some of it, 
indeed, being within the corporation limits, 
and the railroad station is built upon it. 
On the new farm to which Mr. Long 
had removed thei"e was an unfinished log 
house, and in that the family lived for a 
time, having only a blanket for a door. 
This farm was also sold after a time, and 
the next four years were spent upon a 
rented farm, when the family removed to 
Wooster. Extreme hard toil, with the many 
deprivations and anxieties he endured, 
told upon the pioneer, and he became in- 
sane, thus putting another burden upon 
the brave mother and her young children. 
Still she fought the battle of life nobly, 
and in Wooster worked hard to support 
her young children. Our subject was the 
eldest, and at twelve years of age began 
to contribute to the family support, earn- 
ing at first eighteen cents a day, every 
cent of which he gave to his mother. He 
was continually on the lookout for work, 
never refusing anything by which he 
I'ould honestly earn a penny. When he 



found nothing else to do he would go into 
the woods in the season and gather nuts to 
sell. In this way he soon became known as 
a bright and industi-ious lad, and work 
came to him more easily. 

The progress of John Long was slow 
and tedious, but was certain, as he made 
no backward steps, and his faithfulness 
and the manner in which he labored to 
assist his mother and his helpless father 
and yoiinger brothers and sissters were gen- 
erally known, and inclined people to assist 
him. He finally secured employment with 
John Slone, at $8 per month in summer, 
doing chores in winter for his board, and 
attending school as much as possible, 
and on Saturdays drawing wood for his 
mother, to add to whose comfort was his 
greatest desire. She was still struggling 
along, but as her children became older 
her burdens gradually became lighter, 
and like her sou she was held in higrh re- 
spect, and procured work easily in the 
best families in Wooster. Mr. Slone, for 
whom our subject was at that time work- 
ing, was one of the best known men of 
the county, and often had business away 
from home, at Columbus and elsewhere. 
In his absence he intrusted everything 
to young Long, in whose capacity and 
fidelity he had absolute faith, which was 
not misplaced. The land upon which Mr. 
Long's house stands was, at that time, the 
pioperty of Mr. Slone, and young Long 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



319 



bought of him the lot on whicli he meant 
to erect a home for his parents — a brave 
determination for a boy, but one he suc- 
cessfully executed. He was to pay for 
this land $300, and liad the privilege of 
fifteen years' time in which to pay for it, 
but in three years he had it paid for. He 
drew stone in the evenings for the foun- 
dation, after working all day for others; 
dug his cellar in the same way, and after 
great exertions succeeded in making for 
his parents a home free from debt. After 
getting the house finished and his parents 
in ]iossession of it, he went to Cincinnati, 
where he was em])loyed in a commission 
hovise, and there he remained from Oc- 
tober until the following June, when he 
returned home, and after woAing there 
for some time by the month, then under- 
took the task of driving a drove of cattle 
to Pennsylvania, which consiimed the 
summer and the early fall. For a short 
time he was again in Cincinnati, and then 
returned to Wooster, where he has since 
made his permanent home. His father 
had been for nine years in an asylum for 
the insane, but he brought him home, 
and after four years in his son's house he 
died, in April, 1867, at the age of eighty- 
five years. The devoted mother, whose 
memory is sacred to her children, died in 
June, 1875, aged seventy-five years. 

The life of Mr. Long had been too busy 
and filled with too much labor and anxie- 



ties to leave him time for social inter- 
course, and he remained single until he 
was thirty-three years of age. His mar- 
riage took place April 20, 1853, when he 
was united in wedlock with Miss Nancj-, 
a daughter of Benjamin Miller, and a na- 
tive of Westmoreland County, Penn. Of 
their union six children were born: 
George K., the eldest, is a resident of 
Wooster; Hezekiah H. and Eliza are de- 
ceased; Martha is the wife of J. W. 
Smith, of East Union Township; Mary 
Etta was accidentally killed on the railroad, 
and Lewis is a resident of Wayne County. 
Since his marriage Mr. Long has lived in 
the house which he built for his mother, 
which he has enlarged and partially re- 
built. He and his wife are sincere mem- 
bers of the United Presbyterian Church. 
When Mr. Long first attended school it 
was to study his a, b, c's from a "pad- 
dle," on which the letters were pasted. 
He kept an account of his income and ex- 
penditures on a stick, on which a certain 
notch meant a certain amount of money. 
In this way, before he had learned to read 
or write, he kept all his transactions, and 
never made a mistake. The characteris- 
tics which distinguished him as a boy re- 
mained with him in his manhood, and were 
the principal factors in h is success. Honest 
beyond question, he always paid promptly 
all he owed, and never was sued by any 
person, and has always stood as a "mau 



320 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



A mau of large humauity, party, aud is scliool director of his towu- 



bis own early trials have made him con- 
siderate aud generous to others, aud he 



ship at the present time. He has a farm 
of eighty-five acres, and in connection 



will long be remembered as a citizen who works his father's farm of 168 acres, all 



has been an honor to his county. 



EOEGE W. EICHWTNE was born 

June 27, ISJrO, in Stark County, 
Ohio, a son of Solomon Richwiue, 
who was born in Lancaster County, 
Peun., March 14, 1801, and grandson of 
Henry and Catherine (Rhodes) Richwine. 
In 1827 Solomon Richwine married Miss 
Eliza Oberly, of Lancaster County, Peun. 
In 1837 they came to Wayne County, 
Ohio, and in 1842 they moved into East 
Union Township, Wayne Count}', Ohio, 
where the wife died in 1887. Their 
family consisted of seven children, two 
of whom died in infancy; the others were 
Lewis, who died in 1880, at the age of 
thirty-five years ; Rebecca, a maiden lady, 
at home; Isaac; Elizabeth, wife of Na- 
thaniel Ames, of Williams County, Ohio, 
and George W. 

The last named, the subject of this 
memoir, was married in 1869 to Miss 
Martha C, daughter of Jacob Bonewitz, 
and to tills union were born six children, 
five of whom are now Hying: Joseph, 
Lewis, Rebecca, Nettie and Eliza. Mr. 
Richwine is a member of the Democratic 



being in East Union Township, Wayne 
County. 



djOHN DURSTINE, farmer, is a rep- 
resentative of one of the old German 
"— families of America. Jacob Dur- 
stine, the pioneer of the family in this 
country, settled in Pennsylvania, and in 
that State, in Westmoreland County, his 
son Abraham was born. Abraham mar- 
ried Catherine Sherrick, and in 1826 
moved to Holmes County, Ohio, aud set- 
tled on a quarter section of wild land, on 
which he lived until 1857, when he came 
to Wayne County, and bought 185 acres 
of land in Wayne Township, where he 
lived until 1868, when he moved to Smith- 
ville, making that his home until his 
death; he died in 1878, at the age of sev- 
enty-eight years. His family consisted 
of six children, John being the second. 

John Durstiue was born in 1825, and 
was but three months old when his pareuts 
moved to Holmes County, Ohio. His ed- 
ucation was limited to that obtaiuable in 
the old log school -house. Like his father, 
he has followed agricultural pursuits, and 
is now one of the prosperous farmers of 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



321 



the township. His borne farm contains 
418 acres of land, 188^ acres in Paint and 
229^ acres in Wayne Township, and it 
has been secured mainly by his own 
efforts. He was married February 28, 
184:7, to Elizabeth Freed, daughter of 
John and Elizabeth (Newcomer) Freed, 
of Holmes County. Mr. and Mrs. Dur- 
stiue have had eight children, viz. : Mary, 
an infant (deceased), Adaline, Cyrus, 
Lyman, Ellen, Clark and Catherine. Their 
son Cyrus lives on the portion of the farm 
Ij'ing in Paint Township, and Mr. Dur- 
stine and the rest of his family live in 
Wayne Township. Mr. Durstiue casts 
his suffrage with the Prohibition party. 



ISRAEL GRADY. This gentleman is 
i a well-known native citizen of Wayne 
- County, Ohio, having been born in 
Greene Township April 28, 1828. His 
paternal grandfather was a native of En- 
gland, and immigrated to America at any 
early day, settling in Pennsylvania, in 
which State he died. John Grady, father 
of Israel, was born in that State, and 
tJiere learned the trade of coopering. In 
early manhood he married Elizabeth 
Odenkirk, a native of the Keystone State, 
of German ancestry. They were the par- 
ents of eight children, three of wdiom are 
now living. In 1818 John Grady brought 



his family to Wayne County, settling on 
a farm in Greene Township. This was 
then a wild, unsettled place, and the 
farm had to be cleared from the forest. 
They had to endure all the discomforts and 
hardships of early pioneer life, but as 
the farm grew in beauty and value as 
the result of their toil, the hardy pio- 
neer and his wife felt themselves amply 
rewarded by having a good home in which 
to rear the children rapidly growing up 
within their cabin walls. Mrs. Grady Avas 
the first to hear the summons of the angel 
of death, passing awa}' at the age of 
sixty-five years. Her husband survived 
her until 1864, when he died at the 
ripe age of nearly four score. Both were 
sincere members of the Baptist Church 
of Wooster. 

Israel Grady lived with his father until 
he was twenty-seven years of age, and in 
his youth took his share of the labors of 
the pioneer. At the age of twenty-four 
he was married to Miss Sophronia, daugh- 
ter of Josiah and Eunice (Pratt) Mil- 
bourn, and born in East Union Townshi[) 
May 13, 1828. In 1858 Mr. Grady bought 
a farm in East Union Township, on which 
were but a few improvements, and here he 
and his faithful wife toiled to make for 
themselves and family a comfortable home, 
and so industriously and intelligently did 
they labor that their farm became known as 
the finest in the township. The first work 



322 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



ou tlieir farm vriis the planting of eight- 
een acres of fruit trees. Mrs. Grady's 
father was also one of Wayne County's 
pioneers, coming here from Virginia with 
his mother at an early day, and settling 
in East Union Township. In IS 19 he 
was married to Miss Eunice, a daughter 
of Oliver Pratt, who came to this county 
in l8l4:. Her father died in December, 
1S80, aged eighty-one years; the mother j 
died in 1889, at the age of eighty-five 
years. Mrs. Grady was brought up as 
pioneer's children were in those early 
days. She learned to spin and weave, 
was instructed in household work, and 
often worked in the fields, at such labor 
as she was equal to. She remained at 
home nutil her marriage. She and Iier 
children are members of the Baptist 
Church. Tn 1881 Mr. Grady and his 
wife left the farm which had for so many 
years been their home and came to Woos- 
ter, settling on a piece of land in the edge j 
of the city, forty and a half acres of it 
being within the corporation limits. To 
get possession of this tract he had to pur- 
chase from seventeen different owners. 
The place was wild and barren, but he set i 
to work to improve it with the same untir- 
ing industry which had hitherto charac- 
terized his labors. One of the attractive 
features of the place is a fish pond, in the 
excavating and preparing of which two 
years were spent. This, when finished, he 



stocked with carp, which are in a thriving 
condition, and on its surface a graceful 
swan floats. To-daj' this place is one of 
the most attractive homes in Wooster, and 
many visitors are drawn thither by its 
beauty and the attraction of a boat ride 
on the glassy surface of the lake. In the 
summer as many as 1,500 persons have 
visited it in a month. 

Mr. and Mrs. Grady have two children: 
the. eldest, Huldah (Mrs. Isaac H. Oden- 
kirk), lives with her parents; Josiah M. 
lives on the home fai'm, in East Union 
Township. The life of Mr. Grady has 
been one of labor, and the honorable po- 
sition he has attained is altogether due 
to the industry of himself and his capable 
wife. He has alwaj's been in favor of 
all projects whose object was to benefit 
the county, and he will long be remem- 
bered as one of its public-spirited and 
enterprising citizens. 



JAMES MARTIN, son of John and 
> 1 1 Ruth (Moore) Martin, was born on 
^^ Martin's Creek, Holmes Co., Ohio, 
October 20, 1824. His grandfather, 
Edward Martin, was a native American, 
born in Essex County, N. Y., near the 
New Jersey line. He removed to Beaver 
County, Peun., where he married Cather- 
ine McCready (also native born, but of 




/7 



^my '^i^a^^z^ ^^ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



325 



Scotch descent), and after some years 
moved to New Lisbon, Columbiana Co., 
Oliio, and in 1810 to what is now Holmes 
County, Ohio, where he was a farmer, and 
owner of one of the important industries 
of that time — a saw-mill — which supplied 
the surrouniliug county with lumber. 
There they both died,leaving six children: 
Catherine, John, Abigail, Joseph, Naomi 
and Elizabeth, all of whom are deceased 
except Joseph, who is now a resident of 
Keokuk County, Iowa. John, first-born 
son of Edward and Catherine Martin, 
was born in Beaver County, Penn., in 
1795, and with his parents moved to Ohio. 
In 1S23 he married Kuth, daughter of 
John Moore, of Salt Creek Township, 
Holmes County, and they located iu 
Wayne County, near Shreve, in what is 
now Clinton Township, where they carried 
on farming until the fall of 1837, when 
they removed to Middletowu, Holmes 
County, and later to Salt Creek Township, 
same count}', where they remained until 
their decease. Their chikh'en were James, 
Joseph W., John H., Mary, Susan, Sarah, 
Nancy J. and Edward. Of these, Joseph 
TV . mcirried Sarali J. Hayes, and occupies 
the old homestead iu Salt Creek Town- 
ship, Holmes County; John H. married 
Mary Hayes, and resides in Salt Creek 
Township, Wayne County; Mary died in 
184'J ; Susan is now Mrs. William Moore, 
of Salt Creek Township, Wayne County ; 



Sarah died in 1841); Nancy J. is now Mrs. 
E. L. Caseveer, of Auburn, Ind., and has 
a family of four sous; Edward died when 
three years of age. 

James, the eldest of this family, with 
the exception of six months, lived in 
Wayne County until he was thirteen years 
old, attending the common schools of both 
counties, also an academical institution in 
Fredericksburgh. He taught during win- 
ters and worked in summer time until his 
education was completed. Having chosen 
a professional life, he read medicine with 
Dr. Abbott and Dr. Bowen, both of Mas- 
sillon, Ohio, and attended a course of 
anatomical and physiological lectures, as 
well as dissections, under Dr. Sheldon, at 
the medical college at Cleveland, entering 
Jefferson Medical College, from which he 
graduated in 1861. During the war he 
was manager of the aid society, and con- 
tributed largely to the siipport and care 
of soldiers' families. In 1852 the Doctor 
married Elizabeth, daughter of Isaac and 
Elizabeth Craig, of Columbiana County, 
Ohio, and located at East Rochester, iu 
that county, where he first began the prac- 
tice of medicine. He removed to Freder- 
icksburgh in the fall of 1854, where he 
has since practiced medicine, and is now 
the oldest practitioner in that portion of 
Wayne County — a prominent and able 
man. Dr. and Mrs. Martin are the par- 
ents of seven children: Florence Virginia, 



326 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



who died when a child; Orra, wife of John 
M. Kyle (they are uow missiouaries at 
Eio, Brazil, and have one child — Jessie) ; 
Jessie Fremont, now Mrs. William H. 
Redett, of Fredericksburgh (has had two 
children: Alice (deceased) and Orra); 
Frank H., now of Washington Territory, 
married to Rose Tanner (they have two 
children: Derwood and Frank Roderick) ; 
Mary Josephine, at home with her par- 
ents; an infant, deceased, and James Sher- 
man, uow in Cincinnati, one of the edito- 
rial staif of the Posi of that city. 

The Doctor, realizing that "knowledge 
is power," gave to all his children the 
most reliable inheritance a parent can 
bestow — a thorough, to some a collegiate, 
education. He and his wife are members 
of the Presbyterian Church, in the Sab- 
bath-school of which he is an earnest 
worker, and for the better part of thirty 
years has been a teacher. He is an active 
Republican and a Prohibitionist, but not 
a third party man. 



J (AMES A. HAMILTON, editor of the 
Crescent Orrville, Ohio, is a native 
— of the State, born at New Lisbon, 
Columbiana County, September 10, 1841. 
Like so many of the descendants of the 
early settlers of the State, he is of Penn- 



sylvania stock. His father, William M. 
Hamilton, who for almost half a century 
was a well-known resident of this part of 
the State, was born in Juniata County, 
Penn., in 1817, and died in Wooster, this 
county, March 8, 1875. In the vigor of 
young manhood he went to New Lisbon, 
where he learned the trade of wagon- 
making, at which he worked a number 
of years. Giving up his trade, he en- 
tered the hotel business, which he carried 
on at New Lisbon for many years. Here 
he became a leading member of the Dem- 
ocratic party, and for a long time was 
justice of the peace. In 1862 he removed 
to Wooster, Wayne County, and became 
proprietor of the United States Hotel. 
In this county he was also elected justice 
of the peace, and filled that office for nine 
years. He was also elected county audi- 
tor; was renominated, but defeated, again 
renominated and again elected. He served 
but four montlis of his last term, dying 
at the age of fifty-eight. A man of un- 
doubted integrity, highly respected in his 
community, and of great decision of char- 
acter, he was possessed of much influence, 
and had his life been spared he would 
have been one of the foremost citizens of 
the county. His wife, Isabella McKuight, 
came of a family well known among the 
early settlers of Columbiana County. She 
was born in New Lisbon September 10, 
1813, the dav on which Perrv won his 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



327 



great victory on Lake Erie, and is uow 
living in Seville, Ohio. 

James A. Hamilton, the subject of this 
sketch, was one of a family of nine chil- 
dren. At the age of fourteen he began 
learning the trade of a printer, at which 
he soon became an expert. He has 
worked at his trade in various cities. In 
ISSn he was employed in Cleveland, then 
in Pittsburgli, Cincinnati, again in Pitts- 
burgh, in Chicago, Memphis, and again 
in Chicago, whence he went to St. Louis, 
where he was employed on the Missouri 
Repuhlican at the time of the strike of 
the printers of that city, in 1864. This 
caused him to return home, and in Febru- 
ary, 1865, he enlisted in the Fifth Ohio 
Cavalry, and joined his regiment at Dur- 
ham's Station, N. C, just before the sur- 
render of Johnston. He was subsequent- 
ly detailed as clerk at Gen. Schofield's 
headquarters at Raleigh, and served 
several months, and was mustered out at 
Columbus, Ohio, in November, 1865. 
The following year he was employed in 
the county auditor's office at "Wooster, 
and in the spring of 1867 resumed his 
trade on the Wayne County Democrat. 
Going to Cleveland, for nearly a year he 
worked on the Leader, and on the estab- 
lishment of the News in that city accept- 
ed the position of foreman, filling it un- 
til the paper was iiurchased by the 
Leader. After that he worked on the 



Cleveland Herald until his father was 
elected auditor of Wayne County. His 
previous experience in the office here be- 
came valuable, and he was appointed 
deputy auditor, serving two years and 
eight mouths. His experience was next 
brought into use in the office of W. D. 
Morgan, auditor of Licking County, 
where he served two years, and upon the 
re-election of his father as auditor he 
again became the latter's assistant until 
his death. Having acquired a valuable 
knowledge of the business of the county 
auditor's office, he was offered and ac- 
cepted for a short time a position in 
the office of J. J. Sullivan, auditor of 
Holmes County, and upon the election of 
Thomas J. McElhenie as auditor of Wayne 
County, returned to his Wooster home, 
and was that gentleman's deputy for two 
years. Like most men brought up in the 
newspaper office, he again returned to liis 
first love, and for a year and a half Mr. 
Hamilton became a partner iu the Lee- 
tonia Reporter office, where he acquired 
a flattering reputation as an editor. 
Selling out his interest, he was for about 
two years employed in the office of the 
Cleveland Plain Dealer, whence he re- 
tired to purchase, in October, 1879, his 
present paper, the Orrville Crescent, 
Avliich he has since conducted with ability 
and success. 

Mr. Hamilton is the present treasurer. 



328 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



of Greene Township, and has frequently 
represented his party as a delegate in 
conventions, and while in Leetonia was 
nominated for auditor of Columbiana 
County bv both Democrats and Green- 
backers. Tliough defeated by a small 
majority, he ran considerably ahead of his 
ticket. From the inception of the Knights 
of Labor movement Mr. Hamilton has 
taken a warm interest in its affairs, and 
upon tiie issuing of a call by Local As- 
sembly No. 1, of Philadelphia, in the fall 
of 1877, to all assemblies in the country 
to send delegates to a convention to be 
held at Reading, Penn., on January 1, 
1S78, f(n' the purpose of uniting all local 
assemblies in one national body and cre- 
ating a national head, he was selected as 
their representative by the local assembly 
of Leetonia, and had the honor of being 
the second presiding officer of the first 
national assembly of K. of L., and was 
likewise selected a member of its official 
board for the first year. He has also for 
years been a member of the I. O. O. F., 
K. of P. and G. A. R., and is a past offi- 
cer in all these orders. 

Mr. Hamilton has been twice married, 
first to Hattie, daughter of Alanson Ney, 
of Perrysburgh, Ohio, who died, leaving 
one child. Harry Given. In October, 
1878, Mr. Hamilton was married to his 
present wife, Lucy, daughter of Christian 
Silver, of near Wooster, Ohio, who has 



borne him three children : Gail, Georgia 
and Jimmie, Jr. In all the relations of 
life Mr. Hamilton has ever maintained an 
honorable reputation, and for his upright- 
ness and manly character, and many fine 
social qualities, is justly held in esteem 
by the people of Wayne County. 



^ 



y JIfRS. ANNA JACKSON, widow of 
\r| the late Robert R. Jackson, of 
■^ Wooster Township, now resides 
in the city of Wooster. She was 
born in AVestmoreland County, Penn., 
April 10, 1815, on the farm where her 
father, John Gourley, was born, and 
where his entire life had been passed. 
Her grandfather was of Irish birth, and 
on coming to this country settled iu the 
county named, and at the time of the 
Revolution owned 300 acres of land there. 
He was married to Ann Rowlson, a na- 
tive of Scotland. John Gourley, father 
of Mrs. Jackson, was married to Margaret 
Stevenson, who bore him twelve children, 
of whom seven are now living, Mrs. Jack- 
sou, who was the eldest of tlie family, 
being the only one in Wayne County. 
In 1846 the father died, the mother in 
1885, at the extreme old age of ninety- 
six years. The mother of Robert R. Jack- 
son also lived to an old age, being ninety- 
nine years old at the time of her death. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



329 



William Stevenson, an uncle of Mrs. 
Jackson, was a major iu the Continental 
army during the Revolution, and another 
uncle, David Gourley, was also a Revo- 
lutionary soldier. 

Mrs. Jackson, the subject of this sketch, 
grew to womanhood on the farm where 
she was born, and in 184:0 was united in 
marriage with Robert R., son of Richai-d 
Jackson, who died when his son Robert 
was but ten years old. All were of Penn- 
sylvania birth. The young couple re- 
mained in Pennsylvania until 1860, when 
the family came to Wayne County, set- 
tling on a farm iu Wooster Township, 
where the husband died, July 25, 1875, 
aged sixty years. Of their union ten 
children were born, viz. : Richard, living 
in Canton, Ohio; John, in Toledo, Ohio; 
William Riley, in Van Wert, Ohio; Rob- 
ert Wright, in Pittsburgh, Penn. ; George, 
in Washington, Ohio, and Anna E., in 
Wooster; Samuel. Obadiah, James and 
Margaret are deceased. Of these, Samuel 
removed to Clinton, Henry County, Mo., 
where he purchased 300 acres of land. 
In September, 1884, while taking home a 
load of lime, which was required in an 
elegant new house he was building, he 
fell and was instantly killed, leaving a 
wife and three children. Obadiah died 
of quick consumption, at Denver, Col., 
August 7, 1887, having been confined to 
his bed but four days; his remains were 



interred in the cemetery at Wooster. 
Anna E. was born iu ] 859, and on April 
2, 1882, was united in marriage with 
Robert S., son of Hugh M. Culbertson, 
who was born in Wooster Township in 
December, ISfiO. Since their marriage 
they have lived with her mother, in Woos- 
ter. They are the parents of three chil- 
dren: Hugh Jackson, Right Gourley 
and Elizabeth Anna. Mr. Culbertson is 
employed as letter carrier in Wooster. 

Robert R. Jackson was a stanch Repub- 
lican, and for three years was township 
trustee. He was an elder in the Presby- 
terian Church of Apple Creek. He was 
a man of sterling integrity of character 
and blameless life, and he and his wife 
and all of the family were held in high 
esteem by all who knew them. Mrs. 
Jackson was formerly a member of the 
Presbyterian Church at Apple Creek, and 
since her removal to Wooster has become 
a member of the Presbyterian Church at 
that place. 



i|p\^ OBERT S. MAJOR, farmer, Ches- 
r^f ter Township, is a native of Ire- 
Jj — land, born in County Down in 
184:0. His parents, John and Sarah 
(Black) Major, had a family of eleven 
children, Robert S. being next to the 
youngest. In 1856 the family left their 



330 



Tr.4F.YjB COUNTY. 



native country and moved to the United 
States, coming direct to Wayne County, 
Ohio. The father was a day laborer, but 
bought ten acres of land, which he culti- 
vated and made his home until his death ; 
he died in 1882, at the age of eighty-four 
years. The mother is still living, and is 
eighty-one years of age. 

Kobert S. Major was reared and edu- 
cated in "Wayne County, attending the 
common schools as he had opportunity. 
He learned the cooper's trade in his 
youth, at which he worked five years. In 
1888 he bought the farm where he now 
lives, which contains 100 acres of choice 
land, finely located, and he is making of 
it one of the best farms in the township. 
Mr. Major was married in 1873 to Susan 
McAfee, daughter of Samuel McAfee. 
They have a family of four children: 
Rosa, John, Walter and Frank. In pol- 
itics Mr. Major is a Republican, but of 
late has affiliated with the Prohibition 
party. He is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 



n( BRAHAM HERSHEY was born in 
/L\\ Milton, Wayne Co., Ohio, Novem- 
Jf- ber 21, 1842, and is a son of Ben- 
jamin and Susannah (Wellhouse) 
Hershey. His paternal grandfather, Abra- 
ham Hershey, was a native of Lebanon 



Coixnty, Peun., and an early settler of 
Baughman Townshij^, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
where he cleared and improved a farm, on 
which he resided for many years ; in later 
life he removed to Richfield, Summit Co., 
Ohio, and died there. He had ten chil- 
dren, named as follows: Jai^ob, Lydia 
(Mrs. David Errick), John, Rebecca 
(Mrs. Hoover), Benjamin, Polly (Mrs. 
Isaac Wenger), Henry, Sarah (Mrs. 
Abram Young), Abram and Samuel. The 
paternal great-grandfather of the subject 
of this sketch was Benjamin Hershey, a 
native of Lebanon County, Penn., and a 
son of Benjamin Hershey, who was born 
in Switzerland in 1704, and who on ac- 
count of persecutions immigrated to Amer- 
ica in 1734, settling in Lebanon County, 
Penn., three brothers coming with him, 
one of whom settled in Canada, and the 
others in Pennsylvania. His sou Benja- 
min was the father of four sons and two 
daughters, viz. : Barbara, Eliza, John, 
Christian, Jacob and Abraham. 

Benjamin Hershey, father of our sub- 
ject, was born in Lebanon County, Penn., 
October 15, 1820, and came with his par- 
ents to Baughman Township, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, in 1830. He was respectively a 
farmer, drover and miller, and during his 
lifetime resided in Baughman, Milton 
and Chippewa Townships, Wayne County. 
He died in Chippewa Township, January 
10, 1875, aged fifty-five years. In 1841 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



331 



he married Susannah, daughter of George 
F. and Elizabeth (Neiswanger) Well- 
house, of Chippewa Township, Wayne 
County, and by her he has had seven 
children who grew to maturity, as fol- 
lows: Abraham, George W., Simon B., 
William O., Mary C. (Mrs. Wesley Heu- 
ueberger), Edward A. and Ella S. (Mrs. 
D. C. Leonard). Our subject's maternal 
grandfather, George F. Wellhouse, a na- 
tive of Germany, born April 17, 17S9, was 
reared in Washington County, Md., and 
became an early settler of Wayne County, 
Ohio. He was elected commissioner of 
Wayne County in 1829, and served six 
years ; was in the State Senate from 1836 
to 1838, and in 1838 was elected by the 
Legislature one of the associate judges of 
Wayne County. He died August 9, 1860. 
Abraham Hershey, whose name heads 
this memoir, was reared in Wayne Coun- 
ty, Ohio, and received a common-school 
education; has always been a farmer, and 
has resided on his present farm in Chip- 
pewa Township, Wayne County, since 
1866. He was in the late War of the 
Kebellion, enlisting August 13, 1862, in 
Company G, One Hundred and Twentieth 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He participat- 
ed in the battles of Chickasaw Bluffs, 
Miss., Arkansas Post, Ark., Magnolia 
Hill, Miss., Snaggy Point, La., the sieges 
of Vicksburg and Jackson, Miss., and 
Fort Blakely, Ala., and was honorably 



discharged from the service October 13, 
1865. He married, December 31, 1865, 
Clara E., daughter of John F., ami Cath- 
erine (Schrantz) Sheets, of Chippewa 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. Mr. Her- 
shey is a member of the United Brethren 
Church. In politics he has always been 
a stanch Republican. 



pjDMIN BURNS (deceased) was 



E 



born in Allegheny County, Penn., 
^ in 1808. His father, William 
Burns, came to Wayne County, Ohio, in 
1837, where he entered one tract of land, 
and purchased two others in Canaan 
Township. Edmin was reared in Alle- 
gheny County, Penn., and March 30, 1S37, 
married Martha Jane McCrearv, who was 
born in New York City in 1810, and 
reared in Washington County, Penn. 
They accompanied William Burns to 
Wayne County, and settled on the farm 
entered by him in Canaan Township, 
where they lived and died. Mr. Burns 
was a member first of the Whig and after- 
ward of the Republican party, and served 
as justice of the peace for over twenty 
years. He was a man whose judgment 
was considered first class, being often 
called upon to act as administrator, and 
to transact various other business for his 
neighbors. He and his wife were among 



332 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



the first seven members who organized 
the Jackson Presbyterian Church, and he 
served the same as elder for twenty-four 
years. He departed this life October 
20. 1880, and his widow April 25, 1884, 
having reared six children (five of whom 
are still living), viz.: William, married to 
Sarah A. Norton, of Canaan Township; 
John Harvy, married to Florence C. 
Houghton, of Medina Couutj', Ohio; Mary 
Jane, married to Hiram Falter, of Medina 
County: Martha Ann; Adaline, deceased 
in 1870: Harriet, married to John A. 
Cover, of Westmoreland County, Penn. 




r ICHOLAS SCHULTZ was born in 
Leutershauseu, Baden, Germany, 
August 2, 1828, and in 1849 immi- 
grated to America, first locating in 
East Union Township, AVayne Co., Ohio. 
He learned the blacksmith's trade in his 
youth, at which he worked thirty years, 
and in 1866 bought the farm where he 
now lives, which contains eighty-two 
acres of valuable land. Mr. Schultz was 
married, in 1853, to Miss Catherine 
Schaffer. a native of Wurteraberg, Heimer- 
dingen, German}', born March 9, 1831. 
They have a family of six children: 
Sarah, wife of George Leiner, of Woos- 
ter Township (they have four chil- 
dren, Charles, John, Edwai-d and Anna) ; 



George, in Dalton, married to Ella Saurer ; 
Adam, in Apple Creek, married to Mary 
Boydston (they have one child, Delia); 
John, in Wooster, married to Sarah John- 
ston (they have one child, Clarence), and 
Anna and Viola, at home. Mr. and Mrs. 
Schultz are members of the Reformed 
Church ; in politics he is a Democrat. 



fOHX SNYDER. This well-known 
>> I old resident of Wayne County, now 
^^ living in the city of Wooster, was 
born in Union County, Penn., February 
14, 1820. His father, Jonathan Snyder, 
was born in Berks County, in that State, 
and was married to Sarah Huffman, a na- 
tive of the same county, a daughter of 
Nicholas Huffman, who was of German 
extraction, and served in the ranks of the 
Continental army during the Revolution- 
ary War, and died in Dauphin County, 
Penn. Jonathan Snyder and wife settled 
in Union County, Penn., and there re- 
mained until 1838, when they came to 
Wayne County in search of a home in 
which to rear their children. They set- 
tled on a farm in Franklin Township, 
where they spent the remainder of their 
lives. The father was a shoemaker by 
trade, as well as a farmer, and worked at 
that in winter. In those days slioemakers 
went from house to house of the people 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



333 



■who wanted work done, generally staying 
in one house until tlie whole family were 
supplied. 

Jonathan Snyder was a poor man, and 
in Wayne County, as well as in Pennsyl- 
vania, had to work hard to make a living 
for himself and family, enduring many 
privations and hardships, in which his 
family shared. His wife and himself, 
however, were blessed with rugged con- 
stitutions, and notwithstanding their ar- 
duous labors lived to an advanced age, 
each dying when eighty -two years old — 
the mother in 1875 and the father in 1877. 
Both were sincere members of the Lu- 
theran Church, and were people held in 
high esteem by their neighbors for their 
trustful, honest and industrious lives. 
They were the parents of ten children, as 
follows: Catherine, now Mrs. Amos Herr, 
living in Knox County, Ohio; Rebecca, 
deceased wife of Samuel Miller; Sarah, 
wife of Anthony Stahl, of Knox County, 
Oliio, died in November, 1888; Mar}-, 
married to William Patton, and living in 
Wooster; John; Daniel J. and Joseph, 
now residents of Madison Hill, Ohio; 
Jonathan and Jacob, farmers in Wayne 
County, Ohio, and George (deceased). 

The subject of this sketch passed his 
early years in the county where he was 
born, and was early made to earn his 
bread by the hardest kind of labor. 
When but nine years of age he was put 



to plowing, being the oldest boy of the 
family. His first plow had a wooden 
mold-board, and the ground being rough 
and stony the lad had a hard time of it, 
especially as he had to plow barefooted, 
in order to save his shoes, of wliich he 
had but one pair each year. On cold 
mornings the barefooted boy used to 
warm his feet by standing in the place 
where the horses had lain over night. 
Threshing at that time was done by the 
horses treading out the grain and clover 
seed, and the boy often was compelled to 
ride the horse in that work from daylight 
until dark. This was the early life of our 
subject, and this was the training he re- 
ceived to fit him for the stern duties of 
life. His educational opportunities were 
limited, being given the opportunity of 
going to school only a short time each 
winter, but, by improving every opportu- 
nity, he succeeded in getting a rudiment- 
ary education, and by reading and close 
obsei'vation in his later j'ears has made 
himself a well-informed man. He was 
eighteen years of age when he came to 
Ohio with his parents. Here for six 
years he worked on his father's farm, 
enduring the hardships which fell to the 
lot of the early settlers in this region, 
where homes could only be made by lit- 
erally hewing them out of the dense foi-- 
est witli which it was tlien covered. 

In 1844 he determined to make a home 



334 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



for himself, ami in that year, as the first 
step toward that desirable object, was 
united in marriage with Miss Eliza Trout- 
man, a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth 
(Keim) Troutmau, and a native of Berks 
County, Peun. On her father's side she 
was of German descent, and on her 
mother's of English. Her mother died 
in Henry County, Ohio, when Mrs. Snyder 
was quite young, and her father later re- 
moved to Wooster Township, in this coun- 
ty, where he passed the last years of his 
life. After this marriage Mr. Snyder 
settled upon a partially improved farm, 
which they worked on shares. Accumu- 
lating some means in this way, by hard 
work and rigid economy, he was al)le in 
1853 to purchase a farm in Franklin Town- 
ship, which he sold to his brother Jacob 
in 1878. He next bought a farm in East 
Union Township; subsequently he pur- 
chased another in Chester Township, and 
still later one in the southeast part of 
Frankliu Township, which he still owns. 
In 1878 he gave up farm life and removed 
to the city of Wooster, where he now re- 
sides in the pleasant home he owns in that 
place. The family of four children, which 
came to our subject and his estimable 
wife, are all living, and are located as fol- 
lows: Keasin B., residing in the city of 
Wooster; Sarah Jane, wife of William 
Bentz, also in Wooster; Alice Alaura, 
wedded to Horace Boydson, in Lyons, 



Neb., and Curtis Hoffman, living with his 
parents. 

Mr. Snyder is a Republican in politics, 
but has been too busy a man to give much 
time to public matters, and the only office 
he has held has been that of supervisor of 
Fi'ankliu Township. He and his worthy 
wife are esteemed members of the Lutheran 
Church of Wooster. Starting in life in 
poverty, he has achieved a marked success, 
and he is to-day one of Wayne County's 
well-to-do citizens. This result has been ob- 
tained by a life of unremitting industry and 
perseverance, united with frugal habits, 
and to the estimable lady who has so long 
aided and counseled him in all his praise- 
worthy efforts, much of his success is due. 
The family is well known in Wayne Coun- 
ty, and as early settlers and as valuable 
members of the community are highly re- 
spected and will long be remembered. 



HOMAS ARMSTRONG, one of the 
earliest jnoneers of Wayne County, 
was born in Northumberland Coun- 
ty, Penn., August 22, 1770, of Irish 
parentage. In his boyhood he accompa- 
nied his parents to Columbiana County, 
Ohio, where, in 1801, he married Jane 
Cook, a young lady descended from Scotch 
ancestry. She possessed a finely cultured 
mind, refined manners and a genial dis- 




WAYNE COUNT Y. 



335 



position. Her daily religious life made 
a deep impressiou on the members of her 
family. The good seed thus sown by a 
mother's love is even yet bearing its fruits 
in the third and fourth generations of her 
offspring. Mr. Armstrong and his wife 
were living in Columbiana County, Ohio, 
at the breaking out of the War of 1812. 
After Hull's surrender he volunteered, and 
was commissioned captain, serving under 
Gen. Buell. At the close of the war he 
returned to his home, and in the spring of 
1815 with his family moved to Wayne 
County, settling on Clear Creek, four miles 
north of Wooster, in Wayne Township. 

In the spring of 1817 he removed to a 
farm seven and a half miles north of 
Wooster, ou the Lodi road, in that part of 
Wayne Township which was in 1819 or- 
ganized as a separate township and named 
Canaan. This farm is now the property 
of Thomas Armstrong, one of his grand- 
sons. Mr. Armstrong was of iron nerve 
and indomitable courage, over six feet in 
height, large boned and of great physical 
strength. He had a genial disposition, 
was generous and kind-hearted, and was 
loved by all for his many virtues. The 
neighbor in need who called upon him 
was never sent away empty-handed. He 
was considerate of young men who were 
struggling with the privations of the 
times for a foothold in life. Many, now 
old men, remember with gratitude the 



assistance rendered just when assistance 
was most needed. He was a positive man. 
None could be mistaken as to which side 
he took on any question that agitated the 
public mind or aifected the interests of the 
community in which he lived. He was a 
Whig in politics, and always active in 
political circles. He took a very active 
part in the campaign of 1840. In 
his family he was a kind hiisband and 
an indulgent parent. He trained his 
children to industry and economy, and 
cultivated in them habits of sobriety, hon- 
esty, integrity and virtue. He was among 
the foremost in securing educational priv- 
ileges for his family and the neighbor- 
hood. His place at church was never va- 
cant without substantial reason. Nor was 
his purse closed when pecuniary aid was 
required. The influence of this man and 
of others, his neighbors, men like himself, 
is still felt in the neighborhood in which 
they lived. It has been remarked by ob- 
servers that the thrift, the industry, the 
morality and intelligence of the Armstrong 
neighborhood is not surpassed in any 
other locality in the county. Truly the 
memory of such men is blessed. 

Mr. Armstrong was the first justice of 
the peace in Wayne Township, and mar- 
ried the first couple in the township. 
When he moved to Canaan Township 
there were but thi-ee families within a 
radius of three or • four miles. James 



336 



WAYi\E COUNTY. 



Rose, a Scotchman aud a uoblemau, lived 
on the west, James Glass on the south 
and William Ewing about two miles 
north. The first school-house in the town- 
ship was built on the farm of James 
Rose, by the early settlers. It was of the 
primitive style, about sixteen feet square, 
with puncheon floor, clapboard door and 
roof, greased paper for windows, and a 
large fire-place occupying nearly the whole 
side of the room. The chimney was made 
of clay aud sticks, aud was on the outside 
of the building. The seats were benches 
of split logs, and the writing desks were 
of split slabs. The first teacher was 
James Buchanan, a Scotchman, who after- 
ward lived and died near Dalton. The 
pioneer wife and mother had many hard- 
ships to endure, and toils aud perils to 
undergo. Their small cabins had no 
floors but puncheons, and seldom a door 
except a quilt, which was poor protection 
against the prowling savages and the wild 
animals. Bears and wolves made night 
hideous with their howling, but the brave 
mother quieted her children, smothering 
her own fears to reassure her family. 
The mother was the provident overseer of 
the little home; kind aud hospitable, no 
one ever left her home hungry if she had 
the food to give them. Strangers and 
neighbors were alike welcome. Wolves 
and bears were the source of great annoy- 
ance to the early settlers on accoiant of 



their thievish propensities, often coming 
to the lieu and killing a hog. But they 
sometimes paid for the theft with their 
lives, the settlers tracking them with the 
stolen property and making their life the 
ransom. 

Mr. Armstrong died March 2, 1842, 
aged sixty-six years, aud his wife April 
14, 1856. Both were buried in the 
Wayne church-yard. This church Mr. 
Armstrong helped to build in 1840, and 
he was the first person buried in the 
church yard adjoining. He and his wife 
had a family of six sons and four daugh- 
ters, the sons ranging from six feet to six 
feet four inches in height, and the daugh- 
ters being large,robust women. Following 
is their record: 

William, the eldest sou, was born in 
Columbiana County, Ohio, November lo, 
1802. His early life was spent amid the 
privations of a forest home. He was 
thus deprived of the early advantages of 
schools, but made up the deficiency in a 
later period of youth. He was fairly 
well educated, and a steady friend of the 
people's schools. When the primitive 
school-houses were passing away, the best 
school-house in the township was built on 
his farm, he generously giving the lot for 
the purpose. Wlien funds failed to com- 
plete it, as he was desirous it should be 
finished, he generously stepped forward 
and furnished what was required from his 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



337 



own resources. The Presbyterian con- 
gregation of Wayne are indebted largely 
to his efforts for their first church build- 
ing. He was untiring in his efforts to 
secure funds for the work, and gave with- 
out compensation much of his valuable 
time in superintending the construction 
until it was finished, and thus was laid 
the foundation for the large and influen- 
tial society, who have lately erected on the 
site of the old building a new church, 
fully up to the requirements of the times. 
He mai'ried Mary Rose, by whom he had 
six children. She died in 1851, and he 
then married Catherine McPherson, by 
whom he had two children. He was a 
farmer, and accumulated a large landed 
estate. His children nearlj' all reside in 
the neighborhood of the old homestead, 
on farms acquired by the father's aid. 
These farms are [u-ovided with valuable 
farm buildings. He was a member of the 
Presbyterian Church all his long life, 
taking a great interest in all religious and 
educational matters. He died January 
30, 1887, respected and honored by all 
wlio were acquainted with him. 

John was born January 19, 1801. In 
1828, times being hard, William and 
John went to McKeesport, Penn., to work 
on a canal. William had liis foot hurt, 
and was obliged to return home, and after 
his return John was taken sick with a 
fever, and died and was buried before his 



father could get to him, it taking ten 
days for a letter to reach his home. 

Thomas was born February 21, ISOd 
Ho learned the tanner's trade under David 
Robisou, of Wooster, and afterward went 
to Michigan, but returned to Wayne, and 
died near Burbank in 185G. He married 
Nancy Thomas, and they had a large 
family, only two of whom are living. 
David and William Vincent, his sons, 
each served a full term of three years in 
the Union army during the Civil War. 

Harrison was born November 25, 1810. 
He studied with Dr. Day, and located at 
Hayesville, where he built up a good 
practice, and died in the prime of life. 
He married Margaret Cox. Their chil- 
dren all reside in the vicinity of Hayes- 
ville. Their eldest son, Thomas, died 
after he had been promoted to a lieuten- 
ancy, of camp fever, at Vicksburg, during 
the siege of that place. Jared, another 
son, served rxnder Gen. Sherman on his 
march from Atlanta to Savannah. 

Eliza was born August 11, 1813, mar- 
ried J. P. Smurr, and they had three 
children: Elinor, Thomas A. and Jennie. 
Of these, Elinor married J. G. Hower, 
and lived in Cleveland ; Thomas A. is an 
eminent physician, living in Ottawa. I!!., 
and Jennie married John Blocker, and is 
living in Wooster. Mr. and Mrs. Smurr 
lived for a time in Wooster, then moved to 
Canaan Township, and finally to Wayne 



338 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Township, where they both died within a 
few months of each other. They were both 
members of Wayue Presbyterian Church, 
and led a consistent Christian life. 

Jalia Ann and Hannah Maria, twin 
sisters, were born October 15, 1816. Julia 
Ann married Neal McCoy, and died leav- 
ing two children, one of whom, James A., 
is living. Hannah Maria married John 
McCoy, who died, and she afterward mar- 
ried Robert Taggart. They moved to 
Keokuk, Iowa, where her husband died and 
she still lives. She has four children. 

David was born December 18, 1818. 
His early youth was devoted to study, 
mixed with short intervals of farm life. 
In person he was tall and well formed, 
possessing an easy address and a com- 
manding presence. His intellectual pow- 
ers were of the highest order. His moral 
qualities forbade his stooping to any pur- 
suit or amusement that was gross or de- 
grading. AVith a high sense of honor, he 
yielded to others what was due them, and 
secured for himself the respect and esteem 
of all who knew him. At school he was t 
respectful to his teachers and thorough in I 
all his attainments. He was a universal 
favorite among his schoolmates, and none 
knew him but to love him. He studied 
medicine with his brother at Hayesville, 
finished his course at Cincinnati, and be- 
came an eminent physician. He acquired 
a large and lucrative practice during the 



few years that he lived, an ornament to 
the medical profession. He married Ma- 
tilda Scott, of Hayesville, who died a 
short time after their marriage, he sur- 
viving her but a few years. 

Jane was born June 18, 1820, and mar- 
ried Francis McConnel. She left a family 
of five children, three of whom are living. 

Calvin, the only representative of the 
family now in Wayne County, was liorn 
June 3, 1820, and September 5, 18-47, 
married Mary McKee. Thej- have two 
sons and two daugliters. 

Thus we have briefly sketched the lives 
of the family of Thomas Armstrong, who 
were worthy children of a most worthy 
father and mother. 



ALVIN ARMSTRONG, farmer, 
Wayne Township, is prominent 
among the most intelligent and 
well-to-do farmers of AVayne County. He 
was born in Canaan Township, June 3, 
1826, the youngest of ten children of 
Thomas and Jane (Cook) Armstrong. 
His early life was spent on his father's 
farm in Wayne Township, receiving his 
education in the common schools. He 
chose the occupation of his father, and has 
been successful in his calling, having 
from his youth had habits of industry and 
thrift. In all his undertakings he has 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



339 



been assisted by bis faithful wife, and their 
home is now one of the pleasautest in the 
township, where hospitality abounds and 
good cheer and freedom reigu. Mr. Arm- 
strong has always taken an interest in 
politics, and was present at Buffalo when 
the Free Soil and Abolition party was 
organized. He has held many public 
positions of trust, which he has filled with 
the faithfulness characteristic of the man. 
Public spirited and generous, he has 
always been foremost in every good work, 
and was one of the organizers of the 
Children's Home of Wayne County, and 
served as a trustee of the home six years. 
Mr. Armstrong was married September 
5, 1847, to Mary McKee, of Congress 
Township, and they have four children: 
Thomas A., David C, Jennie A. and Ida 
M. Of late years Mr. Armstrong has cast 
his suffrage independent of party ties. 
He and his wife are members of the Pres- 
byterian Church. 



Ml ES. CATHEEINE FEEMAN, of 
the city of Wooster, is a native 
jj -* of Sugar Creek Township, Wayne 
County, born December 30, 1816. 
Her father, George Harman, was a native 
of Pennsylvania, and while still a young 
man he came to this county, where he 
married Elizabeth Keister, also born in 



the Keystone State. Of their union 
eleven children were born, Mrs. Susanna 
Hummer and our subject being the only 
ones now residing in Wayne County. In 
1855 Mrs. Harman passed to her long last 
sleep, and the husband and father followed 
her to the grave in 1865. Both were 
well known and highly respected in the 
county, and more especially among the 
early settlers, with ^yhom they were num- 
bered. He had been a farmer by occu- 
pation, and both were members of the 
Lutheran Church. 

Our subject was truly a pioneer's child, 
born in a log cabin, and made familiar 
with the hardships and trials of a pio- 
neer's life, which were by them accepted 
as a matter of course. Upon reaching 
womanhood she was united in marriage 
with John Feeman, who had come here 
from Pennsylvania with his parents when 
a boy. All this family were born in 
Pennsylvania. The father was a shoe- 
maker by trade, and when a boy John 
helped him; later, however, he learned 
the trade of a stone-cutter. In those days 
the shoemakiug was done by the knight 
of the last going from house to house, 
wherever he was wanted, staying usually 
in one house until the whole family were 
shod. It was while on one of these trips 
with his father that John Feeman made 
the ac([uaintance of his future wife. Both 
families attended the same church, and. 



340 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



the acquaintauce ripening into love, the 
young people were in dxae time mar- 
ried — May 31, 1S38. After their mar- 
riage Mr. and Mrs. Feemau removed to 
Wooster, where he had found work at the 
trade of stone-cutting, which he had mas- 
tered in the meanwhile. This trade he 
followed until the angel of death claimed 
him, in 1858, in the prime of a vigorous 
manhood, at the age of forty-one years. 
He fell a victim to that dread disease, 
consumption. John Feemau was a good 
man, and was very highly esteemed. He 
was an active member of the German Ke- 
formed Church, and an earnest worker 
both in the church and in the Sabbath- 
school, and was for years superintendent 
of the latter. For fifteen years he gra- 
tuitously took charge of the church build- 
ine. He was also a member of the I. O. 
O. F. He began life poor in this world's 
goods, but full of determination to make 
for himself an honorable place in the 
community, and to create for himself and 
family a comfortable home, and gain the 
good-will and esteem of his fellow-men. 
In these laudable objects he succeeded, 
and his widow and children were not the 
only ones who mourned his loss, cut off, 
as he was, in the zenith of his usefulness. 
Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Feeman 
the following eight children were boi'n: 
Levi, who was a Union soldier, was 
wounded at Jacksonville, Miss., and died 



at Vicksburg, Miss., where he was buried : 
Eliza, wife of George W. Clark, of Kan- 
sas City, Mo. ; William, pastor of the 
First Baptist Church at Ashtabula, Ohio; 
Sarah, living with her mother; Mary, de- 
ceased wife of Harvey Schwartz, of 
Wooster; John, Matilda and an unnamed 
infant are also deceased. After the death of 
her husband Mrs. Feeman tried in every 
way to keep her children together, no labor 
being too hard or sacrifice too great, if only 
she might keep the home and her family 
about her. But death came, and marriage 
ties scattered the once happy family. For 
a number of years Mrs. Feeman and her 
daughter Sarah have lived together at 
the old homestead on Pittsburgh Avenue. 
The mother is a member of the Lutheran 
Church, and the daughter of the Baptist 
Church. The whole family stand high in 
the community, and are greatly respected 
by all who know them. 



FjREDERICK HOEGNER was born 
October 4, ISIS, in Berks County, 
-" Penu., a son of John William 
Hoegner, one of the early settlei's of Con- 
gress Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. The 
father of our subject was born and reared 
in Germany, and in 1814 he immigrated 
to the United States, locating first in 
Philadelphia, Penn., and afterward in 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



343 



Berks County, same State. June 15, 1838, 
he and his family (including Frederick) 
came west to AYayne County, Ohio, set- 
tling in Congress Township, where he 
bought a farm of Daniel Tarnall, and 
here reared his nine children, five of 
whom are now living. He died in 1858, 
aged seventy-eight years. 

Frederick Hoegner, whose name heads 
this sketch, was married February 22, 
1848, to Miss Sarah, daughter of George 
Emrich, who was a settler of Wayne 
County, of much earlier date than the 
Hoegners, and to this union were born 
four children, all living: William F., 
Lewis P., Lovina and Albert. Mr. and 
Mrs. Hoegner have long been members 
of the Lutheran Church; in politics he is 
a stanch Republican. Their excellent 
farm of 260 acres of highly improved land 
is the result of assiduous and honest toil, 
and good management on the part of both. 



djUDGE EDWARD S. DOWELL. 
At the age of thirty -two there died, 
B. C. 323, the master of an empire 
— conquered by himself, covering two and 
a half million square miles — in the full 
vigor of his faculties, at the time his 
brain was teeming with macfiiificent 
schemes of assimilating the populations of 
Europe and Asia, and of re-making man 

IS 



after his own image, by stamping the 
nature of Alexander on the mind and feel- 
ings of the world. The type of his career 
is best illustrated by one incident which 
long since matured into a familiar proverb. 
During his invasion of Asia, and upon his 
arrival at Gordium, he was seized by a 
powerful superstition, which, for a time, 
overcame him and arrested his move- 
ments. Here lived Gordiiis, a husband- 
man, but afterward king of Phrygia, 
remarkable for tying a knot of cords on 
which the Empire of Asia depended, and, 
to him who could unravel it, its mighty 
and undisputed scepter belonged. After 
fruitlessly manipulating and seeking 
vainly to master its complexity by the 
tact and dexterity of his hand, with his 
sword he impatiently cut it, whereupon, 
the mystery having been solved, the mul- 
titude rejoiced and applauded, and soon by 
valorous deeds he verified the forecast of 
the oracle. Hence, in action and resolu- 
tion the young men of history have exhib- 
ited their ability, as well as their judg- 
ment, capacity and vigor to combat and 
annihilate apparently hopeless perplexi- 
ties by cutting Gordian knots and proving 
themselves equal to, and the masters of 
great emergencies. 

A recent writer groups together five 
names of historic significance: Goethe in 
poetry, Newton in science, Bacon in phil- 
osophy, Columbus in discovery, Watt in 



344 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



mechanics, and says substantially, that 
the greatest works of Goethe were con- 
ceived and partly executed when he was a 
young man. Newton discovered the most 
universal of all natural laws, the law of 
gravitation, before he was twenty-five. 
Bacon had " taken all knowledge for his 
province," and was devising new, and 
doubting old methods, before a beard had 
yet appeared on his chin. The concep- 
tions of Columbus originated in the 
thoughts and studies of his younger 
years, and Watt had invented the steam 
engine before he was thirty. Hamlet was 
written when the author was btit thirty- 
six, and Grant was commander of one of 
the largest armies of the world when he 
was forty. The history of the human in- 
tellect will confirm the assertion that the 
power in which great natures culminate, 
which fuses force and insight in one ex- 
ecutive intelligence, matures between 
thirty -five and fifty. Subsequent achieve- 
ments organize themselves around the 
younger conceptions. Stepping from the 
line of the earlier to the middle life, the 
subject of this sketch was exalted to the 
judiciary of his State. 

Hon. Edward S. Dowell was born in 
Middletown, Holmes Co., Ohio, March 
28, 1847 — the month of the return of the 
sun, the awakening of the world, and 
when the scent of the soil is in the air. 
His parents, Thomas and Mary (Pfouts) 



Dowell, were also natives of Holmes 
County, whither, from Maryland, in 1820, 
the paternal grandfather removed, and 
where he settled and reared his family. 
He was an able, devout and pious minis- 
ter of the Methodist Church, and was 
married to Elizabeth Harrold, a lady of 
most estimable virtues and sincere piety, 
and who, after the death of her husband, 
continued the exercise of an active and 
earnest spiritual control over the family, 
permitting no stone to be removed or 
shaken in the altar of prayer, around 
which the home group had so often knelt 
in worship. 

Thomas Dowell, the father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, pursued the vocation 
of a carpenter, and was united in marriage 
with Miss Mary Pfouts in 1845. Four 
children were the result of this union, 
two of whom, in infancy, passed to the 
glory of the coming world, and sjjeak 
not to us. In 1852, and when Judge 
Dowell was but five years old, his parents 
went to California, going by way of the 
Isthmus of Panama. There being, at 
that time, no inter-oceanic railway com- 
munication, the mode of transit was of a 
more primitive character, and the youtli- 
ful hero of this narrative was borne along 
the banks of the Chagi-es and the tropical 
jungles of the Isthmus on the shoulders 
of an escort. During his passage across 
this narrowed spine of the two continents, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



345 



as a result of exposure to tbe coutagious 
poisons of that sectioi), lie suffered from 
an attack of measles, which, without the 
aid of saffrou, giuger, spearmint, or other 
aromatics, disappeared and made uo sign. 
But a sadder and more painful visitation 
was in reservation for the adventurous and 
ambitious family. After taking apart- 
ments on the steamer for their destina- 
tion, the mother of Judge Dowell, having 
contracted that malignant disease, the 
Panama fever, after a brief illness passed 
away, no more to look u[)on the freshen- 
ing sea, or sport upon its breast, but in 
its depths, like a drop of rain, to fall 
without the memory of a grave. As if a 
triple fate hung over the little circle so- 
sadly torn and rent, upon their arrival at 
San Francisco, Alice, the onlj- daughter, 
sank to the "dreamless sleep that lulls 
the dead, where all have gone and all 
must go." Of the happy and harmonious 
quartette that, with full hopes and antici- 
pations, went in quest of gold, like the 
Argonauts who sailed with Jason in search 
of the Golden Fleece, now none were left 
but the father and son. The first labor 
in which they engaged was cutting, mak- 
ing and bailing hay for shipment, on the 
Montezuma Hiils, in Solano County, a 
region well adapted to stock-raising, and 
especially for agriculture, for which its 
climate and soil were peculiarly adapted. 
It was originally noted for its luxuriant 



growth of wild oats. After having a 
large quantity of the grasses cni'ed and 
prepared for shipment, it was destroyed 
by fire, and their residence, likewise, per- 
ished in the flames. This sudden and 
temporary frown and reverse of fortune 
diverted the attention and industry of the 
father in a different direction. He began 
work in the mines of Nevada City, where 
gold at that time was the chief product. 
In this enterprise he met with gratifying 
success, but indications of declining health 
made it pi'udent for him to abandon fur- 
ther work in the mines, when he returned 
to Montezuma Hills, and went to raising 
sheep. During his residence in Nevada 
City, his son, Edward, was enjoying, at 
Marysville, some of the first reflective 
hours of life and study ; but when he re- 
turned to Solano County the youthful 
student accompanied him. Here they 
remained for four years. A more serious 
and alarming state of health, on the part 
of Mr. Dowell, made it advisable for him 
to return to his home in Ohio, which he 
did in 1S59, bringing his son with liim. 
He died in August, 1860, at his home in 
Paint Township, Holmes Co., Ohio. In 
his experiments and speculations in sheep 
husbandrj^ in California, that "wonderful 
piece of the world," the Fates had been 
propitious, as if to compensate him for 
the adverse winds that had blown against 
his hand of toil. He accumulated money 



346 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



rapidly, and made, as he thought, judi- 
cious investments of it in the interest of 
his son. After the death of Thomas Dow- 
ell, it became necessary to obtain the 
money through the courts, and a decree 
was rendered in favor of the son, to the 
amount of $34,000, when it was discovered 
that the title to the land on which the 
mortgage was placed was defective. The 
catastrophe which followed entailed an 
almost penniless condition' upon Mr. 
Dowell. 

After his mixed, varying and checkered 
experience in the Golden State, return- 
ine to the rich vallevs and fertile hills 
of his native State and coiiuty, he at 
once entered the common schools, and at 
the age of sixteen became a student at 
Berlin Academy, in Holmes County, and 
afterward at Fredericksburgh, in Wayne 
County. It is the old story so often told 
and written, and that must be applied to 
him, of teaching in the winter to procure 
funds to defray academic or collegiate ex- 
penses in summer. It has been given to 
the cold type a thousand times iu regard 
to the self-taught, self-educated man, in 
the legal profession and out of it, from the 
days of the first law-giver to those of 
Chief-Justice Marshall. In 18f>7 he put a 
period upon his educational pursuits, and 
having fixed upon the law as his profes- 
sion, he entered the office of Critchfield 
& Uhl, at Millersburgh, Holmes Co., 



Ohio, where he remained for two years, 
when he determined upon going to Cal- 
ifornia again to try, if possible, to make 
further investigations in relation to the 
property out of wliicli he had been most 
palpably defrauded. Foiled and disap- 
pointed in this adventure, he returned to 
Ohio,and commenced anew and vigorously 
his studies in the office of Lyman R. 
Critchfield, who in the meantime had gone 
to Wooster. His course of legal reading 
was completed here, which eminently fit- 
ted him to unravel the gnarled and knotty 
problems, the Gordian knots, which fall 
to the lot of the disciples of Coke and Little- 
ton. In 18()9, at the December term of 
the supreme court of the State of Ohio, 
he was admitted to the bar, and without 
any delay opened an office in the old 
court-house in Wooster, Ohio. In 1873 
he formed a partnership in the practice 
with the late Hon. John K. McBride. 
In 1874 he was elected prosecuting attor- 
ney of Wayne County, and re-elected two 
years thereafter. In the autumn of 1887 
he was elected judge of the common pleas 
court for the third subdivision of the 
Sixth Judicial District, embracing the 
counties of Wayne, Holmes and Coshoc- 
ton, and was installed in office on Febru- 
ary 9, 1888. 

He was married February 9, 1888, the 
day on which he was clothed with the 
judicial ermine, a happy coincidence, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



34'^ 



Avherein Cupid was enthroned as first to 
be crowned after the dignity of the judge- 
ship was conferred. The fortunate lady 
to whom the bias of the court was evi- 
dent was Miss Rolla Z. Eiffil, daughter 
of Samuel and Sarah (Taylor) Riffil, and 
who is a native Wayne Countiau, to the 
manner born. On December 14, 1888, a 
son was born to Judge and Mrs. Dowell, 
whom they have named, after his father 
and grandfather, Edward Samuel Dowell. 
Judge Dowell became a member of 
the x\neient Oi'der of Free Masons in 
1878, joining Ebenezer Lodge, Wooster, 
Ohio, and December 4, of the same year, 
a Master Mason, and a Royal Arch 
Mason in 1879. In 1880 he was added to 
tlie membership of Wooster Council of 
Royal and Select Masters, and in 1881 
took the Templar degrees at Massillon, 
and is a member of Massillon Command- 
erj No. 4. He is likewise a member of 
the commandery recently established in 
Wooster. He is a charter member of 
Wooster Council No. 13, Royal Arcanum, 
organized September 5, 1877, and assisted 
materially in preparing, correcting, etc., 
the by-laws of the oi'der. He is a mem- 
ber of the Improved Order of Red Men, 
Uncas Tribe No. 57, instituted May 20, 
1871, having passed through all the 
chairs of the lodge, and has been for 3'ears 
and now is past sachem. In 1888 he joined 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 



Wooster Lodge No. 42, chartered June 
21, 1845. 

The career of Judge Dowell, as will be 
seen, in its earlier features, at least, is in- 
vested with many of the sorry experiences 
of life, as well as some of the perfumes of 
its romance. The loss of father, mother and 
sister at his tender age was a sad and ir- 
reparable one. The additional misfortune 
which swept away the capital of his father, 
and to which he was the only and rightful 
heir, looked like the cruelty and savagery 
of fate. He was left a child, parentless 
and alone in the world, so far as those 
who were closest and nearest to him in 
nature were concerned. But he had 
friends, true ones, of kindred and blood. 
The battle of life he had, however, to 
fight for himself. His home was a pleas- 
ant one, a residence in the country, in the 
midst of an industrious and frugal people, 
with the same habits and generally the 
same employments. An atmosphere of 
religion pervaded it. It matters little on 
what j3oor above the street or of what size 
in the fields the domestic hearth is, pro- 
vided it be the asylum of love, integrity 
and those family affections which it per- 
petuates. In this circle is predestined 
the child, and his very soul is molded 
from the impressions which he remem- 
bers. The glance of a mother's eye is a 
part of our soul, which penetrates into us 
through our own eyes. Where is the per- 



348 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



sou who, when he sees or remembers that 
glance, in imagination or a dream, does 
not feel something not wholly of the earth 
descend into his thoughts, which intensi- 
fies their serenity and tranquilizes agita- 
tion. The battle being left to him, he 
fought it to an issue, and successfully. 
In private life he is a courteous, affable, 
well-bred gentleman, and marked in all 
contacts with him by the strictest integ- 
rity and action. His temper is j)lacid and 
usually tranquil, though liable, at times, to 
be ruffled, when the resistance is meas- 
ured in proportion to the exigency, though 
he possesses an inborn, kindly joyoiisness 
of nature. He is cautions in dispos- 
ition, and somewhat sensitive; but this 
is perfectly compatible with courage, 
strength and mental firmness. Coleridge, 
in speaking of this mental quality, says: 
" Sensitiveness is not only a characteris- 
tic feature of, but may be deemed a 
counterpart of, genius." There " must be 
delicacy with firmness," writes Ruskin. 
The white skin of Homer's Atrides would 
have felt a bent rose-leaf, yet subdue its 
feeling in the glow of battle, and it would 
behave like iron. He is characterized by 
a stern independence, has great intelli- 
gence and decision of character, prefers 
to deal with facts and princi2:)les, has lit- 
tle use for theories, unless they explain 
their own phenomena, and that without 
contradicting themselves, and when, upon 



reflection and investigation, he has arrived 
at a conclusion, it would be as useless to 
undertake to change the result as to at- 
tempt to remove a stone from one of the 
pyramids. 

In politics he is a Democrat, au active 
and capable defender of the principles of 
his party, and upon the public platform 
their conspicuous and eloquent champion. 
As a lawyer he rapidly grew and 
strengthened in his practice, and soon 
achieved popularity in the courts and 
reputation as an advocate. He prosecuted 
unremittingly the study of his books, 
"scorning delights and living laborious 
days," believing that no sphere of life 
or refinement of society was desirable 
which could not be connected with toil. 
He was honest, exacting sincerity from 
his clients, conscientious and diligent in 
his conduct of causes on trial, courteous 
to adverse counsel, circumspect to the 
court, logical, clear, compact and convinc- 
ing to the jury ; and in his discussion and 
analysis of questions of law to the court, 
he was sound, forcible and cogent, not 
aiming to be dazzling or brilliant, or seek- 
ing to flounce propositions in meretricious 
ornamentation. His remarkable success 
in his chosen profession demonstrates that 
he did not mistake his path, or miscalculate 
his own fitness for the law. As a judge 
he has acquired a just and enviable popu- 
larity, second only to the esteem in which 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



349 



he is held as a citizen and mau. He pos- 
sesses that skillful geueralizatiou which 
readily seizes upon the strong points of a 
subject; that happy condensation of 
thought which, at once, extracts the sub- 
stance of an argument, and that ingenu- 
ous foresight and comprehension which 
immediately grasps the angularities of the 
most intricate legal problems. Whether 
he be enunciating a principle of law or 
exploding a sophism, or gently, and with 
skill and courtesy, recalling a wandering 
disputant to the point at issue, perpetrat- 
ing a joke, or launching an epigram, or 
charging a jury, he not only makes manner 
subservient to matter, but subdues that 
manner to an e(juable and delightful 
speech, transposed to a pleasant and fluent 
conversation, free from the methodical stiff- 
ness of modern Oxonian tribunes, and ex- 
empt from the prosaic drawlings of the 
conscript fathers, or the bench of a cent- 
ury gone. 



JACOB SHELLY, son of Michael and 
Elizabeth (Houser) Shelly, both na- 
tives of Pennsylvania, was born on 
the farm he now owns, in Plain Town- 
ship, Wayne Co., Ohio, January 15, 1843. 
Michael Shelly was born in Cumberland 
County, Penn., in 1811, and came to 
Wayne County, Ohio, in 1828, with his 



parents, Jacob and Eliza Shelly, who pur- 
chased IGO acres of laud in Plain Town- 
ship. Jacob Shelly, the grandfather of 
our subject, was a hard-working, industri- 
ous man, and by his industry and perse- 
verance accumulated about 900 acres of 
land. He never aspired to political hon- 
ors, and never held any offices. He died 
in 1858, a member of the Mennouite 
Church. Several of his children grew to 
be men and women, but all are now dead 
except Elizabeth, wife of John Yocum, of 
Mercer County, Ohio, and Michael. 

Michael Shelly was married in 1835 to 
Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob and Cathe- 
rine Houser, and located on 160 acres of 
land in Plain Township, which is now 
owned by his son Jacob. Here he lived 
for many years, and then jjurchased the 
farm he now occupies, in another portion 
of Plain Township. He is well and favor- 
ably known, and at one time owned nearly 
800 acres of land. He has always been a 
member of the Republican party, and takes 
an active interest in township affairs. 
Michael Shelly has reared ten children 
to be men and women, viz. : Christian, in 
Plain Township, Wayne County ; Michael, 
deceased ; Jacob, on the home farm ; Peter, 
in Ashland County; Joseph, in Franklin 
Township, Wayne County ; John, in Plain 
Township, Wayne County ; Eliza, wife of 
David Mellinger, of Jefferson, Wayne 
County; Sarah, wife of Eobert McAffee, 



350 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



in Wooster, Ohio; Mary, wife of William 
McQuigg, in Plain Township, Wayne 
County, and Susan, wife of James Alex- 
ander, also in Plain Township. 

Of these, .Jacob attended the township 
schools until the breaking out of the war, 
■when he enlisted in Company C, Sixteenth 
Ohio Yoluuteer Infantry, serving three 
years. In 1866 he married Miss Harriet, 
daughter of Alex. Culberson, an early 
settler of Wayne County, who afterward 
moved to Ashland County, Ohio. By this 
union have been born three children: 
Charles C, Ella T. and Jennie V. Mr. 
Shelly is prominently identified with the 
Republican party, and has held several 
township offices; at the present time he is 
serving as trustee. He is a member of 
Wooster Lodge, No. 42, I. O. O. F., and 
of Gibson Post, No. 133, G. A. E. He 
and his family are members of the Plain 
Lutheran Church, of which he has been 
deacon. 

Alex. Culberson, the father-in-law of 
Jacob Shelly, was born in Westmoreland 
County, Penn., and came in 1814 to 
Wayne County, Ohio, where he purchased 
a tract of land in Plain Township, near 
IMillbi'ook. Here he lived for several 
years, and finally moved to Ashland County, 
Ohio, where he died in 1869. He was 
twice married, and by the first wife he 
had two children: Lucretia Nelson, in 
Illinois, and Abraham, in Mansfield, Ohio. 



His second wife was Nancy Beard, by 
whom he had two children: Harriet, wife 
of Jacob Shelly; Margaret, wife of J. H. 
Wilhour, of Wooster, Ohio. Mr. Culber- 
son was a Eepublicau in politics, and held 
several township oflices. 



dl A. BONEWITZ is a son of Jacob 
and Catherine (Franks) Bonewitz, 
^— natives of Fayette County, Penn. 
About 1832 they came to Wayne County, 
Ohio, and purchased the farm where their 
son, J. A., now lives. The father was a 
shoemaker by trade but after coming to 
Wayne County he gave his attention en- 
tirely to farming, and at his death left an es- 
tate of 160 acres of land. He was a prom- 
inent member of the Lutheran Church, 
also a leader in the Democratic party. 
He died in 1868, and his widow in 1885. 
They reared nine children, one of whom, 
M. v., died at the age of thirty-nine 
years. Those living are F. J., in Van 
Wert, Ohio; H. W., in Huntington Coun- 
ty, Ind. ; Sarah J., wife of O. E. Jameson, 
of Nebraska; D. R., in Van Wert, Ohio; 
Julia G., wife of Abraham Eymon. of 
Portland, Ind. ; Elizabeth Ann, wife of 
John R. Kling, of Sherman County, Kas. ; 
Martha C, wife of Wilson Richwine, of 
East Union Township, Wayne Count)', 
and the subject of this memoir, who was 



WAYNE COUNT V. 



351 



born on the homestead, December 4, 
1S43. He attended the township schools, 
and has always remained on the home- 
stead in East Union Township, where he 
follows agricultural pursuits. In 187(3 
he married Miss Nancy J., daughter of 
Robert C<iok, of East Union Township, 
and bj- this union the^y have had six chil- 
dren: Mary Belle (deceased), Anna Lee, 
Lula Idella, Jennie C, and Robert C. and 
Ethel J., infant twins. Mr. Bonewitz and 
family attend the Presbyterian Church; 
he is a member of the Democratic jjarty. 



^rPi) ENJAMIN DOUGLASS was born 
f I in Plain Township, Wayne Co., 
— ' Ohio, --Vugust 13, 1838, and is next 
to the youngest son and child of James 
and Elizabeth (Wallace) Douglass, and on 
both the paternal and maternal sides he is 
of Scotch ancestry. His mother crossed 
the ocean at the age of ten. His father 
was a large, stout, muscxilar man, full of 
strength and courage, and was by occupa- 
tion a successful farmer. Mr. Douglass 
i-emaiued with him upon the farm until 
he was twenty years old, in the mean- 
time attending the village school at 
Jefferson, five miles west of Wooster. 
His first teacher was George Phillips, 
subsequently a quite prominent Methodist 
minister and writer of religious books. 



For five years he was a pupil of the late 
Judge Joseph H. Downing. Later he at- 
tended Yermilliou Institute, at Hayesville, 
Ashland County, for about three years. 
That place of learning was then under the 
presidency and management of Dr. 
Sanders Diefendorf, a distinguished ed- 
ucator and Presbyterian divine, under 
whose superintendency it enjoyed signal 
prosperity. For a number of years it bore 
the title of "the Ohio Annex" to Can- 
nonsburgb (Penn. ) College, as its contri- 
butions of students to that flourishing 
iustitiition were copious and constant. 
Three and four hundred students were in 
regular attendance, and among those who 
were in his classes were Hon. Joseph Reed 
(for many years a member of the Supreme 
Court of Iowa, now a member of Congress 
from the Council Bluffs district) ; the 
Hons. John Bruce and John Glenn 
(both of whom are United States district 
judges, the former in Alabama, with res- 
idence at Montgomery, and the latter in 
Illinois, with residence at Monmouth) ; 
Robert Quincy Beer, of Ashland (who 
became a member of the publishing hou.se 
of Wilson, Hinkle & Co., now Van Ant- 
werp, Bragg vfc Co., of Cincinnati) : Frank 
Wise and L. Tannahill (who entered the 
Confederate service frt)m Missouri, and 
won the star of " brigadiers"). 

After leaving the institute Mr. Doug- 
lass commenced the study of law with 



352 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Messrs. William M. Orr aud John Irvine, 
with whom he remained a year, when he 
went to the Cleveland Law College, from 
which he graduated in 1861, iu the mean- 
time having been admitted to the bar by ■ 
the supreme coxirt at Columbus, Ohio. 

He was married the same year to Miss 
Nercissa L. Newkirk, of Big Prairie, 
Ohio, a graduate of Urbana Seminary, 
Ohio, and has two daughters, Mabel and 
Dail, the former graduating from the Uni- 
versity of AYooster, in the class of 1887, 
the latter from the high school of Woos- 
ter, in the class of 1888, aud is now a 
student in the Wooster University. He 
began the practice of law during this 
year, having formed a partnership with his 
brother-in-law, the late Joseph H. Down- 
ing. 

The threatened war-cloud was then 
bursting upon the country, and the law 
office of the firm was soon converted into 
a recruiting station, Mr. Downing admin- 
istering the oath to the soldiers as fast as 
they were recruited. Mr. Douglass wrote 
the first call that was made for volunteers 
in the county, and that call, in his hand- 
writing, was framed by his friend, the 
late E. B. Spink, and now hangs in the 
hall of Given Post, G. A. E., at Wooster. 
In the fall of 1862 Mr. Downing en- 
listed in the military service, and, as it ; 
was next to impossible to conduct busi- 
ness in the courts, on account of witnesses ' 



and lawyers being iu the army, the law 
office was, therefore, abandoned, and Mr. 
Douglass, until the close of the war, was 
principally engaged in recruiting work. 
He made patriotic, thrilling speeches in 
almost every church and school-house in 
the county, aud was largely instrumental 
in recruiting many companies. For 
reasons possibly best known to himself, 
he never returned to the practice of the 
law, although the writer of this sketch 
is of the opinion that, had he done so, 
he would have stood at the front of the 
bar, the peer of McS weeny, Critch- 
field, Eex, or Hemjjhill. He seemed, 
however, to dislike the evasions, deceits, 
tergiversations, combats and collisions of 
the practice. 

In 1808 Mr. Douglass went to the Pa- 
cific coast, by invitation of the Na- 
tional Executive Eepublican Commit- 
tee, and made twenty-five speeches for 
Grant and Colfax, in Nevada and Cali- 
fornia. He made the first speech advo- 
cating the Fourteenth Coustitiitional 
Amendment delivered in Nevada, at the 
opera hoiise in Carson Citj', presided 
over by Gov. Blaisdell, and it was the 
first State in the Union to ratify the 
amendment. On his return he was pub- 
licly requested by the citizens of Woos- 
ter to deliver an address, which he did, 
under the title of "A Trip Across the 
Continent," whicli was afterward pre- 



TF.-IF.Y^ COUXTY. 



353 



sented in Illinois and other points in the 
"West. He went the overland route, by 
rail to Benton, one hundred miles west of 
Cheyenne, Wye, and thence by Concord 
coacli across the Rocky Mountains, a dis- 
tance of 400 miles, to Salt Lake City; 
thence by stage to Austin, and thence 
across the great alkali desert to Reno, 
and thence to Virginia City, his destina- 
tion, traveling in coaches 1,000 miles, 
among hostile Indians, white bandits, and 
other desperate characters. He paused 
for a week in the City of the Saints, in- 
specting the principal points of interest, 
there being then but 500 Gentiles within 
its borders, presenting a paradox in the 
fact that the Gentiles were principally 
Jews. He bathed his feet in the rock- 
born Jordan, and floated in the lake of 
salt. He walked amid the stones and 
foundations of the temple; attended wor- 
ship with the apostles in the tabernacle; 
interviewed President Brigham Young 
within his gates and palaces, and sent to 
the New York Times and other Eastern 
papers the results of his ieie-a-tete with 
the eagle-nosed champion wife-owner of 
of the Western Hemisphere. Returning 
from his trip by steamer, and after arriv- 
ing in New York City, he called upon and 
presented letters of introduction to Hon. 
Henry J. Raymond, editor and proprietor 
of the New York Times. So favorably 
impressed was Mr. Raymond with Mi", 



Doiiglass that he was solicited to go to 
Old Mexico in the capacity of correspond- 
ent for the Times, which proposition Mr. 
Douglass was favorably considering when 
Mr. Raymond suddenly died. 

As a part of his literary labors Mi-. 
Douglass wrote and published in 1878 at 
Indianapolis the history of Wayne County, 
Ohio, a book of nearly 900 pages, and the 
best county history in the State. In 1879 
he completed for the publishers a work 
entitled the " Oddities of Colonial Legis- 
lation," writing and adding thereto about 
300 pages for John B. Dillon, historian, 
of Indiana, who died in the midst of his 
editorial labors. He has written, and now 
has ready for publication, a history of the 
Grand Army of the Republic, a book of 
550 pages. Mr. Douglass did not confine 
himself to history and prose writing, but 
occasionally sang with the muses, and he 
has written poetry that compares favorably 
with that of Whittier, Dr. Holmes or 
Moore. The following is a specimen, 
written for the Clirouicle while he was at 
Washington, and it indicates that lofty 
sentiment found in all his verses: 

I FLY, O F.^THER, TO THY BKE.4ST. 

I fly, O Father, to Thy breast. 
In these dark hours to Thee I turn; 

I feel in Thee alone is rest, 
In Thee the peace for which I yearn. 

These wintry hours are dense with glooms, 
They press and pierce ray sorrowing heart; 

I sigh for joys, unfading blooms, 
I can not find from Thee apart. 



354 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



I cloy amidst these festive throngs. 
This whirling trance of life and things, 

This sound of feet, these scenes and songs, 
The viol and its vibrant strings. 

This is the winter of the lands. 

Ah. me! the winter of my soul; 
I feel, yet not with conscious hands, 

Within my heart its wild control. 

I gaze upon its prostrate snows. 
Now sullied by the wordling's feet, 

Its birdless trees in bare repose, 
lis dead parterres so summer- sweet. 

I sadden in these aisles of palms, 

A blest retreat for nymphs and fawns; 

I walk possessed of stolid calms, 

Amid these mute and sleeping lawns. 

I see thy hand, O Father, here, 

I feel the ruin of Thy breath; 
But then, to Thee, Thy flowers are dear — 

Thy greatest blessing is in death. 

Again Thou'll come in tenderer mood. 
And all this sere world, dead and dumb, 

Will rise and shout from lawn to wood, 
For, with a loving smile Thou 'It come. 

Then at thy shrine again I'll Uneel. 

As I have prayed before and knelt; 
Then voice my worsliip in Thine ear. 

And know Th}' pleasure here is felt. 

lu 1882 he was appointed to a position 
in the Government service, in tlie post- 
master-general's office, and was there three 
years. While in Washington City he 
published in the Daihj Shir a history 
of the colonial postal service, and wrote 
many interesting letters, which were 
published in the Wooster Republican 
and other papers. His first contributions 
of literary pretensions were to the " Wa- 
verly Magazine" a sort of a type-trap for 



verdant prose dabsters and half-feathered 
songsters. He has written articles accept- 
able to such magazines as the " Galaxy," 
in the day of its prosperity. He was a 
regular correspondent for years of "Leis- 
ure Hours," and before the consolidation, 
a frequent correspondent of the Cincin- 
nati Commercial and Gazefte, which latter 
published, during the concluding days of 
the war, his letters advocating manhood 
suffrage, which were widely copied and 
extensively circulated. In politics Mr. 
Douglass is a Republican, but the writer 
knows him to be a conservative one. He 
has always been active in local campaigns, 
and was a candidate of his party for 
county auditor in 1864, but, -vvith the bal- 
ance of the county ticket, was defeated at 
the election, the county then being strong- 
ly Democratic. While at Washington, 
that whirlpool of vices and vanities, he be- 
came thoroughly disgusted with politics 
and politicians, believing that one party 
can manage the affairs of Government 
about as well as the other, as both are 
equally honest and patriotic. 

Mr. Douglass is a fine specimen of 
manhood, six feet three inches high, and 
weighs over two hundred pounds. He is 
a scholarly, entertaining gentleman, a true 
friend and congenial companion, and the 
writer of this sketch will be greatly 
pleased if it is preserved in the annals of 
the county. 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



355 



DAVID JAMES is a son of George 
' and Aim (Sealy) James, natives 

of England, who immigrated to 

America in 1832, and located in Franklin 
Township, "Wayne Co., Ohio, on the farm 
now owned by their son David. They 
purchased 100 acres of land for $700, 
there being at the time but two houses 
between them and the town of Wooster. 
George James and his family were mem- 
bers of the Episcopal Church of Wooster. 
He died in 1859; his widow in 1870; 
politically he was a Whig. Their family 
consisted of four children, viz. : William 
Alfred, who died at the age of twenty- 
three years; John S., in Franklin Town- 
ship, Wayne County; Amelia, widow of 
J. C. James, in Wooster, Ohio, and David, 
who was born m England, October 7, 
1826, and came to Wayne County with his 
parents. He was apprenticed to the 
blacksmith's trade, but never followed it 
as an occupation, and has always lived on 
the homestead in Franklin Township, 
making great improvements in the build- 
ings, etc., and now owns over 250 acres 
of land. 

In 1853 he married Miss Ellen, daugh- 
ter of Thomas and Dorotliy Gilmore, of 
Holmes County, and seventeen children 
have been born to them, as follows: a son, 
who died at the age of seventeen years; 
a daughter, who died at the age of five 
years ; one that died in infancy, and the 



following named yet living: Thomas A. 
and Dorothy Ann, at home; William 
Alfred, in Franklin Township, Wayne 
County, married to Minnie F., daughter 
of Hugh and Sarah Morgan, of Franklin 
Township (they have one child, Hugh 
C. ) ; Jesse Gilmore, at home ; Mary 
Nellie, now Mrs. Frank E. Langell. of 
Wooster, Ohio (they have two children, 
Mark B. and James M. ) ; Martha Nettie, 
at home ; Wesley David, in Illinois, and 
John Charles, George Walter, Frederick 
H., Frances Asbury, Amelia, Sealy and 
Anna Hortense, all at home. Mr. James 
and family are members of Moorland 
Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he 
is a trustee and class-leader; politically 
he is a Republican. 



d[ W. BRINKERHOFF, M. D., the 
youngest son of John Brinkerhoff, 
^ — of Wooster, was born in Wooster, 
February 16, 1852. He received his 
classical education at the high school of 
Wooster, and immediately entered the 
ofiice of Dr. L. Firestone, where he read 
medicine, and in 1873 he graduated from 
the medical department of Wooster Uni- 
versity at Cleveland. He first began the 
practice of medicine in Missouri, but re- 
mained there only six months, when he 
returned to Wayne County, locating at 



356 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Burbauk, where he now enjoys an exten- 
sive practice. He is also teacher of phys- 
iology in the public school of that place. 
He is a member of tlie borough council; 
a member of the Northeastern Ohio and 
Waj'ne County Medical Societies. 

In November, 1874, Dr. Brinkerhoff 
became united in marriage with Miss Ella 
M., daughter of James C. Hemler, of 
Licking County, Ohio. Both Dr. and 
Mrs. Brinkerhoff are prominent members 
of Burbank Methodist Episcopal Church ; 
politically he is a Eepublican. 



DANIEL T. HOFFMAN has been a 
resident of Wayne Township since 
— ' 1853, and has by his long resi- 
dence become one of the well-known citi- 
zens. He has devoted his attention to 
agriculture, and now has a good farm of 
100 acres, all under cultivation, with good 
improvements, thus making it one of the 
pleasantest homes in the county. He was 
married, in 1846, to Miss Anna Mary, 
daughter of Samuel Groff, and to them 
were born three children, two of whom 
are living: Sybilla, wife of William 
Switzer, and Mary Ann, wife of Jacob 
Switzer. Mrs. Hoffman dying, Mr. Hoff- 
man afterward married Miss Matilda, 
daughter of Joseph Grosh, and liy her 
had eight children: Joseph, Daniel, Mar- 



tin, Jacob, Benjamin, Lawrence, Laura 
and Clara. Of these, Joseph died when 
nine mouths old, and Laura when two 
years old; Daniel is married to Miss 
Anna Groop; Martin is married to Miss 
Lola Heringtou. Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman 
are members of the Church of God. 

Mr. Hoffman's father was Jacob Hoff- 
man, whose father, a native of Eurojie, 
came to this country when single, and was 
married to Miss Shriner, a native of 
Pennsylvania. Their union was blessed 
with six children — three sous and three 
daughters — Jacob being the youngest in 
the family. He was born in Manor Town- 
ship, Lancaster Co., Peun., Januar}- 16, 
1792, and December 16, 1816, was mar- 
ried to Magdalena Thomas, a native of 
the same township, born December 13, 
1791. They had a family of twelve chil- 
dren. Father Hoffman came to Wayne 
County in the year 1850, purchased a 
farm of 200 acres in East Union Town- 
ship, and afterward moved to Wayne 
Township, where his wife died in the 
eighty-fourth year of her age. She was 
converted when sixteen years old, and was 
a faithful servant of the Lord until her 
death. Father Hoffman died August 8, 
1884, aged ninety-two years, six months 
and twenty-two days. He was converted 
when about forty years of age, and lived 
a Christian life until his death. This 
estimable couple had twelve children 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



351 



(seven of whom are living), forty-three 
grandchildren (thirty-three living) and 
thirty-one great-grandchildren. 




ILLIAM ROUGH, a prominent 



Hl\f/ f^i'"^®!" o^ Plain Township, was 
born in Wayne County, OJiio, in 
1820. His father, William Rouch, was a 
native of Maryland, of Dutch ancestry, 
and was a soldier in the War of 1812. He 
married Miss Mary Stair, and to them 
were born nine children, six of whom are 
living, viz.: John, Polly, Nancy Eliza- 
beth, Susan Rebecca, Lydia Sarah and 
William. At an early day William Rouch, 
Sr., with his wife and three children, 
moved to Columbiana County, Ohio, where 
he bought 160 acres of land, on which he 
lived several years, and in 1815 came to 
Wayne County and entered 100 acres of 
land, a part of which is now the home of 
his son William. At the time of his death 
he owned 320 acres of valuable land. He 
in early life learned the mason's trade, 
but gave his attention wholly to agricult- 
ural pursuits during the last years of his 
life. He died at the age of eighty-three 
years and three months, his wife having 
preceded him, at the age of seventy-four 
years. 

The subject of our sketch was reared in 
his native township, and has always lived 



on the farm which is now his home. He 
has been a successful farmer, makinjr 
practical use of the lessons taught him in 
early life. He is a representative citizen 
of Plain Township, a public-spirited and 
progressive man, and is respected by all who 
know him. He was married in 1S55 to 
Susan, daughter of Jacob Bower, of Plain 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, and they 
have a family of five children, viz. : Tread- 
well S., William P., Sarah Agnes (now 
Mrs. Eoufli), Lydia A. (now Mrs. Mul- 
linger), and Mary, at home. In politics 
Mr. Rouch is a Democrat. Mrs. Rouch 
is a member of the Lutheran Church. 



u 



i LYSSES CHATELAIN was born in 
Canton Bern, Switzerland, April 
7, 1828, and immigrated to Amer- 
ica in 1818. He first engaged in manual 
lalior in Hoboken, N. Y., remainingr there 
for eleven months. He then spent three 
months in Cleveland, Ohio; thence moved 
to Wayne County, where he worked near 
Maysville and Fredericksburgh, for about 
one year. January 1, 1851, he married 
Miss Lena, daughter of Lewis Dodez, of 
Paint Township, Wayne County, and fol- 
lowed farming near Mount Eaton, remain- 
ing there until 185G, when they purchased 
their present farm. Although Mr. Chat- 
elain came to this country without capital 



358 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



except his hands, he has, by industry and 
perseverance, made himself and is to-day 
one of the wealthiest and most prosperous 
farmers in Paint Township, owning be- 
tween 400 and 500 acres of land. His 
family consists of nine children, viz.: 
Celia E. is the wife of J. B. Finney, of 
Holmes County, Ohio, and has four chil- 
dren: D. Alvin, Laura, Lena and Ward; 
Lewis A., at home; Emma, wife of Ran- 
dolph Eosenberg, of Paint Township, has 



four children: Ida L., Orie D., Clyde and 
an infant ; Lucy, wife of Israel Stuck, of 
Stark County, Ohio, has two children: 
Beatrice and Raymond Wilbur; Laura, 
Julia, Rebecca, Ida and William. In con- 
nection with general farming Mr. Chat- 
el ain does considerable in stock breeding. 
He has held the office of president in the 
French Reformed Church for many years ; 
he is a member of Massillon Lodge, No. 
346, F. & A. M. ; politically a Democrat. 



L 



EANDER FIRESTONE, M. D., 
LL. D. (deceased). The following 
sketch is from the pen of Ben. 



Douglass, of Wooster. 



Man's sociality of nature evinces itself in spite 
of all that can be said with abundant evidence, by 
this one fact, were there no other: The unspeak- 
able delight he takes in biography. — Caiii/le. 

Lord Bacon expressed his regret that the 
lives of eminent men were not more frequently 
written; and added that, "though kings, 
princes and great personages be few, yet 
there are many excellent men who deserve 
better than vague reports and barren elegies. ' ' 

The history of the world is principally the 
record of conspicuous names and the biogra- 
l)hy of illustrious characters. The history 
of Rome is little more than the biography of 
twelve men who were contemporaries, and 
all enclosed within the walls of the Eternal 
City. No marvel that the proud metropolis 
that can boast of Julius Cfesar, Pompey, 
Brutus, Cato, Atticus, Livy, Cicero, Horace, 
Yirgil, Hortensius, Augustus and Marcus 
Yarro, should aspire to the proud title of 



mistress of the world, and vaunt herself 
secure from all mortal wounds, save only 
those that might be inflicted in an evil hour 
by parricidal hands. 

Mankind delights to register the acts and 
syllables of men who risk investments in the 
thought exchanges of the world. The stand- 
ard of civilization and the advancement of 
human progress has been made and deter- 
mined by the augmentation in the proportion 
of those who achieve intellecttial triumphs, 
and by a corresponding decrease in the ratio 
of those who are consecrated to pleasurable 
pursuits, and neglect the higher moral and 
mental development and discipline. The 
principle of leadership is acknowledged and 
universal. It commands our respect and ven- 
eration. Among the North American Indians 
each tribe has its oracular leader, who sum- 
mons to the camp-lire the dusky faces, and 
regales them with chapters from the unwrit- 
ten bible of savagery. 

When King Harold went westward, fol- 
lowed by the chosen men of Norway, to con- 
quer France and England, though his men 
were distinguished for wisdom and courage 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



361 



as a body, yet they recognized and rewarded 
the leadership of those most prominent in 
energy and valor. The true Briton of to-day 
venerates the names of Hengst and Horsa, 
his Saxon prototypes, for the inspiration and 
memory of their horsemanship is ever present 
at the boiling heats of Ascot and Newmarket. 
Through the grim galleries of the centuries, 
the Deity has spoken through his own chosen 
interpreters. It is the few indeed, who are 
genius-anointed. The lines of history from 
the first records of Grecian story to the 
moment when Elsinore heard the war moan 
along the distant sea, and, further on to later 
combats amidst hieroglyphic obelisks and 
near the shadow of the Sphynx, vividly expose 
the records of grand men who clenched oppor- 
tunity and forced her to decree and command 
their triumph. In the progress of events 
marching on with power and grandeur, we 
discover the hand of Phidias among the 
features of the gods; the trowel of the Egyp- 
tians; the philo.sophy of Socrates and Plato; 
the swords of Ciesar and Alexander; the ora- 
tions of Cicero, Burke and Webster; the 
speculations of Newton, Copernicus and Kant; 
the metaphysical wisdom of Bacon and Locke; 
the prowess of Charlemagne, Murat and 
Sheridan; the achievements of Sir William 
Hunter and Sir Astley Cooper; the legal pro- 
fundity of Blackstone, Erskine and Story; 
the religious zeal of Baxter, Hooker and 
Bossuet; the military skill of Wellington, 
Von Moltke and Grant; the statesmanship 
and martial grandeur of Washington; the 
astute and overmastering sagacity and judg- 
ment of Lincoln; the romantic intrepidity of 
Columbus and Hudson; the grand poetic out- 
bursts of Sophocles, Homer, Shakespeare, 
Milton and Longfellow. Their lives, their 
thoughts and deeds have imparted stability, 
character, example and inspiration to human- 
ity and civilization, and, in their individual 



histories, in their recorded work and the 
thoughts they have furnished, can almost be 
found the material for a history of the race. 

Wherefore, it may properly and naturally 
be affirmed, that history may be contemplated 
as but the biography of a few earnest, toiling, 
self-reliant men. 

It has been said that the hardy growths of 
nature are tho.se which battle the storms ; the 
fiercer the conflict the more robust becomes 
the trunk, and the deeper down do the roots 
descend. Man is biit a segment of nature. 
The successful one is not he who dreams or 
toys with images, but he who acts, and when 
we see a man who has hewn his way through 
difficulties and endured the storms of life 
from childhood, he is the strong man, the 
man of will and genius. Such was the sub- 
ject of this memoir. 

Dr. Firestone was born in Salt Creek 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, April 11, 1819. 
His father, Daniel F. Firestone, removed 
from Beaver County, Penn., to Wayne 
County, in 1815. With him he remained 
until he was fourteen j^ears old, performing 
such work as he could on the farm in the 
Slimmer, and attending the country school in 
the winter. He then entered the academy at 
Salem, Columbiana County, and under the 
tutorship of Mr. Mills and Mr. Kingsbury, 
received prelibations of that education which 
he had an ambition to acquire, but which 
was beyond his power to then attain. He 
thence went to Portage County, Ohio, where 
he contracted with a farmer for three months 
to chop cord wood, at three shillings per cord. 
His stout arras felled the forest monarchs., 
notwithstanding the lines of Morris: 

Wooilnian. spare tlitit tree, 
Touch not a single bough. 

Who knows but his youthful, imaginative and 
poetic mind, as he looked upon the prostrate 



362 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



oak, did not dwell on masts of navies in its 
ribs; of storms; of battles on the ocean; of 
the noble lyrics of the sea; of Robin Hood 
and his merry men; of old baronial halls with 
mellow light streaming through diamond- 
shaped panes upon floors of oak, and wain- 
seotings of carven oak ? I doubt not that his 
boyish fancy saw all this. 

At the age of sixteen he returned to Wayne 
County, going to Chester Township, where, 
with his uncle, John Firestone, a few miles 
north of New Pittsburgh, for two years, he 
made his home. He was penniless, but 
eager and ea'-nest. The history of these two 
years could be given in a line — "The short 
and simple annals of the poor." Thrust 
upon his own resources, he became the archi- 
tect of his own fortune. He toiled in the 
fields during the day, and after the drudgery 
of it was over, he devoted himself to his 
books by the light of the tire of kindlings 
carefully prepared as a substitute for lamp 
or candle. AVith him it had to be nothing, 
or, self-schooling, always the firm, sure sub- 
stratum upon which the successful student, 
whether at home or school, or at the univer- 
sity, must erect his superstructure. In what- 
ever he engaged, whether in contact with the 
products of the soil, or the resistance of the 
forest, or in the path of mental improvement, 
he was distinguished for unquailing diligence 
and energy. Under such circumstances and 
suiToundings he laid the basis of his educa- 
tion and life, and that a man who can thus 
educate himself, possesses intellectual morale, 
no one, however captious, will deny. 

During the winters of these two years 
spent with his uncle, he taught school, his 
first term being in the region now known as 
Perry Township, then in Wayne, but now in 
Ashland County. For his services he re- 
ceived S12 per month. He was now equipped 
for teaching, was a good grammarian and 



mathematician, exceeding, in fact, the stand- 
ard of the average English scholar. By the 
reading of standard authors, such as Tacitus 
and Plutarch, Hume and Gibbon, Shake- 
speare and Milton, Dr. Johnson and Field- 
ing, etc., which he had borrowed, he was in- 
troduced to the best style and thought of 
these brilliant writers, and in early life 
acquired a degree of familiarity with their 
language, and found sincere pleasure in the 
companionship of their reflections. Mean- 
time, he had not circumscribed the area of 
his studies to such as merely equipped him 
for the service of the teacher. His range of 
.penetration and vision was lifted to wider 
and higher skies. He had been making 
periodical recitations to Rev. Thomas Beer, 
a scholarly Presbyterian minister of Ashland, 
familiarizing himself with botany, geology, 
philosophy, chemistry, and natural science 
in other departments. His inquiring mind 
impelled him to make researches in germs 
and plant-life, and its organic and inorganic 
nature, and into flowers, their organs and 
food, and the physiology of the vegetable 
world; to explore Olil Red Sandstone and the 
Cosmos; to sit with Plato in the academy, or 
Seneca at the Symposium of death; to 
wander with Silliman and Berzelius amid 
reactions and relations, the composition of 
substances and the mysterious laws of com- 
bination. 

At the age of nineteen, August 26, 1838, 
he was married to Miss Susan Firestone, a 
lady of dignified and affable manner much 
esteemed by her acquaintances as a wife, 
mother, friend and Christian. The intimacy 
which resulted in this union was formed in 
early life, and his ardent attachment to his 
wife was evinced on all occasions to the 
period of his death. By this marriage eight 
children were born, five boys and three girls, 
all of whom are dead, except W. W. Fire- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



363 



stone, M. D., who inherits many of the 
strong traits of his father, and under whose 
tutorage he studied his profession and its 
collateral sciences. 

At the age of twenty, Dr. Leander Fire- 
stone began the study of medicine with Dr. 
S. F. Day, a noted practitioner and eminent 
surgeon, under whose care and instruction he 
continued for three years, when be attended 
a course of lectures at Jefferson Medical 
College, Philadelphia. When he received 
his diploma, unlike many students who re- 
linquish or abridge their reading and hours 
of study upon graduation, he realized that 
he was but 

An infant strug-.tjling on its mother's lap, 

and that he was just in the lirst stages of 
discipline which would ultimatelj' enable him 
to grapple with the broad and almost illimi- 
table field of medical and surgical literature. 
His passion for these investigations was 
manifested in his writhings in the grip of 
his first clench with life, and continued until 
time bad faintly blurred into gray back- 
ground the splendid picture of his former 
years. His steadfast assiduity and zeal in 
his professional work gave him the applause 
of co-laborers and brothers, and won him lead- 
ership where to win it was to be crowned ; won 
him believers and imitators, where to be imi- 
tated and to be recognized as an example, was 
to have attained to the eminence of human- 
ity's benefactor. 

But the time had come when he must lift 
his shield and bare his arm to "the sad, 
stern ministry of pain," and on March 28, 
1841, he opened an office in the village of 
Congress, where he continued for thirteen 
years, acquiring a wide and remunerative 
practice, and a degree of jjopularity and 
eminence not confined to his visiting circuit. 
During this time, and expanding the horizon 



of his aims, he graduated from the Medical 
Department of the Western Reserve College, 
then located at Cleveland, Ohio, and in 18-17 
was summoned to that institution as demon- 
strator ot anatomy, which position he held 
until 1853. Here he achieved new honor and 
distinction, and bore the reputation of being 
one of the most popular, fluent and instruct- 
ive lecturers in the colleges. In the same 
year he was appointed first superintendent of 
Northern Ohio Asylum for the Insane, at 
Newburgh, now a part of the city of Cleve- 
land. 

In 1859, being vice-president of the Ohio 
Medical Convention, then in session in Co- 
lumbus, Ohio, in the absence of the president 
he presided, appointing all the committees, 
and otherwise controlling its deliberations. 
June 7, of the same year, he was elected 
president of the convention, and ' ' in remarks 
accepting the office tendered him, thanked 
the society in a brief but manly speech, and 
urged the members to consider carefully and 
earnestly the importance of the work before 
them."* 

June 13, I860, he delivered his valedictory 
address to the Convention. In ISG-t he was 
promoted to the professorship of obstetrics 
and diseases of women in Charity Hospital 
Medical College, Cleveland, Ohio. In 1808 
he was elected to the chair of surgery. In 
1870 the college at Cleveland was made the 
medical department of Wooster University, 
where he continued as professor of obstetrics 
and the medical and surgical diseases of 
women, and class lecturer on anatomy, 
physiology and hygiene, to the students at 
W'ooster University. 

June 24, 1874. the title of LL. D. was con- 
ferred upon him, at Athens, by the University 
of Ohio. Gov. William Allen appointed 
him, February 1, 1875, one of the trustees 

*From the Medical Report. 



364 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



for three years, of the Northern Ohio Hos- 
pital for the Insane. In 187S, Gov. Bishop 
designated him as superintendent of the In- 
stitution for the Insane at Columbus, Ohio, 
and during his administration of the office, 
he established a reputation in the public 
benevolent circles of the States, as being one 
of the siTccessful and efficient professional 
and executive superintendents, of which any 
State might be consistently jealous. 

In private life he was characterized by 
great benevolence of character. Other re- 
markable traits were his disinterestedness, 
his regard for the rights and enjoyments of 
others, his generous disposition, his gentle 
and forbearing temper, his plain, easy and 
unostentatious manner. He was an unswerv- 
ing friend and a delightful companion. In 
social circles he charmed with the grace and 
full, rich naturalness of his expression. "Con- 
versation to him was the music of the mind, 
an intellectual orchestra, where all the in- 
struments should have a part, but where none 
should play together." He was possessed 
of warm and wide and ardent sympathies, 
and his genial natiire unconsciously called 
for sympathy; yet, he was heroic and inde- 
pendent, and bore the occasional uneven fric- 
tions of circumstance with placid etpianimity 
and stately strength. He had the ability to 
sustain the mind's tone under adverse en- 
vironments and preserve it sensitive to work, 
study, meilitatioa, nature and to God. In 
the relation of father and son, of husband, 
brother and friend, lie always displayed the 
highest excellencies of feeling and character. 
Expanding our view to the comprehensive 
circle of his personal friends, rarely did any 
man win a stronger hold upon the confidence 
of those with whom he was associated. He 
has with o(|ual propriety mingled in the free 
and open exchanges of private life, and sus- 
tained the dignity and honor of official station. 



In professional life we may speak of him 
in the language of eulogy employed l)y him 
on the death of Prof. Delamater, who occu- 
pied a chair in the medical college with Dr. 
Firestone: 

He was no ordinary man. Indeed he was a 
great man, in possession of learning witliout ped- 
antry, and skill without ostentation. He never was 
known to harbor hatred or ill-will, had a pleasant 
smile of approbation and a word of encouragement 
and hope for everv man in the faithful discharge 
of his duty. He was eminent aa a physician, and 
his lectures were clear, forcible and logical. In 
conversation he was agreeable, instructive and illu- 
minating, imparting pleasure and intelligence to 
all around him. The mementoes of his example 
are a rich boon to posterity, and, while benevo- 
lence, philanthropy, social order and religion sur- 
vive, the virtues of this great and good man will 
shine in all the majesty of light. 

He was not a specialist in any branch of 
the profession, but in all of its apartments 
vindicated his title to pre-eminent distinction. 
In surgery he particularly excelled, and to bo 
an expert in that domain is to approximate 
the mastery of the profession, as in its several 
branches are compassed all the other depart- 
ments of the healing art. In the sick room 
he seemed to engender and radiate health, as 
if he were the possessor of a superabundance 
of it. He was pervaded, if we may feebly 
reach out after a receding idea, with the mys 
terious odic force of the healer, which is above 
science and beyond experience and behind 
theory, and which we call magnetism, or vital- 
ity, or tact, or inspiration, according to our 
assimilating power in its presence, or our 
reverence for its mission. 

As a politician he had no full defined or 
cherished aspirations. He was a member of 
the Ohio Constitutional Convention of 1850-51 
which assembled at the State Capitol, May 6, 
1850, and of which Hon. William Medillwas 
president, W. H. Gill, secretary, and J. Y. 
Smith, reporter. It was composed of 1 1 5 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



365 



officers and delegates, in which there were 
eight physicians besides himself. In his 
representative capacity it will be observed 
that Dr. Firestone aided by his vote and voice 
in advancing measures which, by legislation, 
were crystalized into the salutary laws of the 
State, and under which its citizens have been 
happy and prosperous for nearly forty years. 
It was, indeed, no paltry honor to occupy 
a seat in such a deliberative assembly, pre- 
sided over by a subsequent governor of the 
State, and which was composed of the Ran- 
neys. Groesbecks, Nashes, Kennons, Stan- 
berrys, Kirkwoods, and Peter Hitchcock, 
•• the father of the Ohio bar," some of whom 
became supreme judges of the State, govern- 
ors, authors in the law. United States Sena- 
tors and cabinet ministers. During his mem- 
bership of the convention he participated act- 
ively in the discussion of questions before it 
for deliberation. He was a champion of the 
right of petition, the purity of the ballot, 
economy in the administration of the affairs 
of the State, advocating biennial sessions of 
the Legislature, and antagonizing the increase 
of salaries of public officials. He signalized 
his opposition to corporations in a speech, of 
June 11, which brought him to prominence, 
and fixed his status before the convention as 
an extemporaneous debater and orator. He 
exhibited an accurate and comprehensive 
knowledge of public affairs and great readi- 
ness and resources in disputation. A Dem- 
ocrat, and yet Republican in habits and prin- 
ciples, depending for the maintenance of his 
dignity upon the esteem of others, and not 
upon his own assumption, his manners at 
once conciliated the good will of the conven- 
tion. When he was elected to this position 
he was a young man of thirty-two summers, 
the age of Lord Clive when he established 
the British power in India, and of Hannibal, 
when at Cannse, he dealt an almost annihilat- 



ing blow at the Roman republic. He re- 
signed his seat before the labors of the con- 
vention terminated, on account of a pressure 
of professional work demanding his exclusive 
time, when Elzy Wilson, of Ashland County, 
was chosen his successor. 

He kept thoroughly enlightened upon all 
the issues and matters of political interest 
before the public, and was a Democrat in his 
political affiliations. He was one of the best 
cami^aign orators in the Democratic organiza- 
tion in Ohio, and in several State and 
national conflicts he entered the arena with 
the avowed Titans of his party. In open 
assault he could lash his political enemies 
with a whip of scorpions, or punish them 
over a prostrate hero, as Marc Antony did 
Brutus over the dead body of Csesar. He 
was once a candidate for Congress, and came 
within a few votes of obtaining the nomina- 
tion, when Hon. H. H. Johnson was chosen 
and elected from this district. 

As a patriot his allegiance to his country 
is immutably written upon the record. When 
the first gun flung its iron challenge at Fort 
Sumter, as a true American, Dr. Firestone 
felt the insult. He realized that war was 
upon us, and with Dr. Holmes believed that 
"war is the surgery of crime," and that the 
disease of the nation was not functional but 
organic, and demanded the knife and not 
opiates and lotions. It must not be that the 
most beneficent of all governments must fall 
by the basest of all conspiracies. Better, if it 
must, that all should be pushed into that 
ocean whose astonished waves first felt the 
Mayflower's kiss and keel. There was no 
middle ground then: the conditions were for 
or against the Union. To bo a neutralist 
was to have pointed against you " the stony 
finger of Dante's awful Muse." Dr. Fire- 
stone at once declared for the Union, in 
prompt, eloquent, and unmistaken tones. 



366 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



On July 4, 1861, ten weeks after the red 
lights of war were kindled, he addressed his 
fellow citizens of Wooster and Wayne 
Counties, in a thrilling, patriotic and impas- 
sioned speech, from which we make a brief 
extract : 

Shall the dawu of some future 4th of July 
flnil your watch-towers abandoned, your altars 
overthrown, your banners forsaken, your smil- 
ing land devastated by a storm of ruin, your 
peaceful hamlets resounding with the maiden's 
shriek, your fertile hills and sunny plains 
scathed by havoc and death, trodden by foreign 
hirelings, and desolated by internal strife? Look 
through the world and show me a clime so 
prouilly matured in the days of her 3'ouih. Shall 
the freedom won by the mightiest of nations 
ill the da}'s of her feebleness be lost in the hour of 
her might? Shall we permit the bright foliage and 
buds of promise to be stripped from the Tree of 
Liberty — its blooming beauty in the rich spring of 
unclouded gloty, and the banner of Washington 
desolated and trampled in the dust! Perish the 
thought forever! 

That glorious banner that has waved in triumph 
amid the clash of arms and the din of battle, 
tliat has inspired the heart of heroes with deeds 
of noble daring, and been the antidote to danger 
at the head of charging squadrons, as they rushed 
with fearless tread to the field of death, must not 
be desecrated. That honored ensign, now the heir- 
loom of the sons of freedom, consecrated through 
all coming time as a sacred memento of tlie dead, 
that has been baptized in blood, sanctified by the 
pure light of heaven, and wedded in undying mem- 
ory with immortal names, illustrious deeds and 
ennobling recollections of all that true patriots 
deemed worthy of life or death, can never be des- 
ecrated by foreign foe, nor crushed beneath the 
heartless tread of a traitor's foot. Its sublime mis- 
sion, its exalted destiny, is far higher and holier 
than this. The whirlwinds of war, of pestilence 
and devastation, may sweep the green earth, 
spreading destruction and death; proud monuments 
of grandeur may crumble into dust; but the 
glorious scintillations of living light and luster 
streaming from the starlit flag, like the countless 
lights in the constellation of heaven, are destined 
to shine on and on, illumining our hillsides and 
valleys, lighting the halls of genius and learning, 
penetrating the imperious sackcloth of bigotry. 



the veil of fanaticism, dissipating corruption, and 
challenging dissolution or decay. 

Let us, the heirs of hallowed birthrights, again 
renew our pledges here this day, that we will be 
faithful in the discharge of the duties entrusted to 
us. Let us vow that, these stately columns of 
American liberlj', erected by our fathers, shall not 
be broken by the rash acts of their inconsiderate 
and ungrateful sons; but that they shall still tower 
in unparalleled grandeur, raising their heads 
upward, high above the loftiest summits of the 
world. Nor shall moss nor ivy outstrip the 
builder's hand, till a free, prosperous and patriotic 
people arise in their omnipotent might, and, amid 
the shoutings and acclamations of millions, lay the 
corner-stone of glory and renown. 

In 1861 he was chosen Chairman of the 
Wayne Coiinty Military Committee, which 
was empowered to appoint auxiliaries in the 
various townships to solicit donations, in 
cash and articles of food and wearing apparel, 
for the soldiers. It was authorized, also, to 
urge and encotirage volunteering and report 
the names of those who desired to enlist in 
the military service. In this sphere of duty 
he was active and energetic, and beyond the 
fulfillment of these functions, he supplied 
apjjointments throughout the county and 
made the most intense and fervid war 
speeches. At the banquets and reunions of 
the old soldiers he was frequently present, 
and invariably extended encouragement to 
such occasions. His Decoration addresses 
were models of earnest, burnijag patriotic 
national devotion. Surely, if eloquence is 
lodged in the human soul, it should be 
aroused on that day, so prolific of gallant 
deeds and the memories of immortal heroes. 
The historian, Alison, relates that the states- 
men of Athens, when they wished to arouse 
that tickle people to any great or heroic 
action, reminded them of the national glory 
of their ancestors and pointed to the Acropo- 
lis crowned with the montiments of their 
valor; and that the Swiss peasants, for live 
hundred years after the establishment of their 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



367 



independence, assembled on the fields of 
Morgarten and Laupen. and spread garlands 
over the graves of the fallen warriors, and 
prayed for the souls of those who had died 
for their country's freedom. 

In 1882, as president of the Decoration 
ceremonies at the cemetery he said : 

It is sorrow's day, and yet our mourning is 
mingled with some share of gladness in the reflec- 
tion that those whom we luourn were the brave, 
honorable and manly, and fell with their armor on 
in the faithful discharge of their duty. Thej' 
sleep, but their deeds remain bright. They have 
fallen, but left a well-earned fame that will survive, 
unimpaired, the revolution of time. They com- 
mingle no more with companions they loved, enjoy 
no longer the pleasures and sweets of home, 3'et it 
is pleasing to know they left an undivided country, 
a Union preserved, a flag honored, and the consti- 
tution, as given b}' the fathers, respected. Among 
the fallen we recognize those who, as patriots, were 
fearless and devoted ; as gentlemen, polished and 
graceful ; as citizens, lilieral and generous ; as hus- 
bands, kind and affectionate ; as fathers, tender 
and instructive; as Christians, consistent and pious, 
and as men, honest and brave. Flowers will be 
strewn on the sod beneath which slumbers the sol- 
dier in gray as well as the soldier in blue. This is 
in accordance with the promptings of the human 
heart, and would seem to be Nature's plan. The 
light of the sun, treasures of the clouds, pearls of 
the star-lit night, evening's zephyr and the fragrance 
of the flowers are distribuied to all, and afford us 
lessons of wisdom, not alone on this occasion, but 
in every day life. As on Horeb, when the tempest, 
the flame and the earthquake had passed away, 
there came a still small voice 

That spake of peace, it spake of love, 
It spake as angels speak above, 

So here, this still small voice is pleading the cause 
of man. and that equal rights, under tlie law of 
love, sustained by the love of law, shall be the 
order throughout the federation of the world 
When these things shall have been accomplished in 
sjiirit and in truth, we may walk about our political 
Zion, and go around about her, tell the towers 
thereof, mark well her bulwarks, consider her 
palaces. 

In the domain of imtigination and literary 

effort, genius had promised him her voice 



and the key to her sacred haunts, but in the 
rush and hurry of life he did not often court 
her smiles or seek her bower or wait the nat- 
ural flowering of her thought. His muse 
was ready and sat near the Pierian waters. 
But, perhaps, the silence of the lover when 
he clasps his maiden is better than the pas- 
sionate murmur of the song which celebrates 
her charms. He had the temper which ani- 
mates the imaginative student and man. His 
intellect was dextrous, and, while he occa- 
sionally wrote genuine poetry, he indulged 
in rhyme like an apt craftsman who in differ- 
ent directions seeks to test his skill. His 
poems sort of grew and builded themselves. 
One of his best poetic ranges is represented 
in his Decoration poem of 1 882, which was pub- 
lished and widely circulated by the press. It 
was contemplated at one time to make it the 
national song of the Grand Army of the Ke- 
public. It is here subjoined: 

Air; — " Oh, Wrap the Flag Around Me, Boys! " 

'Tis sorrow's day, the noisy din 

Of labor hushed to rest, 
Each face portrays the heart within 

With grief so deeply pressed. 
We mourn the loss of those we loved. 

The noble and the brave — 
Our hearts in sadness deeply moved 

We weep beside the grave. 

cnoRus. 
Then strew sweet flowers upon the spot 

Wliere lie the true and brave 
Who dared to face the foeman's shot, 

Our country's flag to save. 

In battle's din their shouts were heard 

Upon the blood)' field; 
From one to one they passed the word 

"The gray-coat foe must yield! " 
But O, alas! with heaving breast 

They met their dreadful doom, 
And now they sleep in peaceful rest 

Within the quiet tomb. 

Chorus: Then strew, etc. 



368 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Let evergreens be lightly thrown 

Upon their last ahode. — 
Fit emblems that the soul lives on, 

To praise its maker, God. 
Let soldiers sleep until the day 

The trump sliall bid them rise; 
Tlie victory sure, the battle won, 

Their home is in the skies. 

Chorus: Then strew, etc. 

He possessed, in a high degree, all the re- 
quisites for a successful and popular plat- 
form lecturer, and in ISOO, the Boston 
Literary Bureau requested permission to 
make appointments for him for the ensuing 
season, which was declined. His intellectual 
equipments would have served him grandly 
in such a field. He was familiar with the 
best thoughts of the best thinkers and 
wi'iters. and believed that a book was the 
best anodyne for either suffering or solitude. 
There is always a pleasure in sympathetic 
propinquity to the utterances of a great 
aitthor. Reading his book is but opening 
his grave, pressing your ear to his coffin and 
whispering through his dust, to his finer 
spiritual hearing. We do not see him, yet, 
through embattlements of earth and sky and 
space we know and hear him. We must 
converse with the dead in the unsealed testa- 
ment of their thoughts and live among the 
unreal. Gibbon asserted that he would not 
exchange his enjoyment of books for the 
riches of the Indies. Montesquieu affirmed 
there was no annoyance or vexation he could 
not fly fi'om in his library. Lessing said 
that, if the alternatives were offered him by 
the Creator, to acquire knowledge immediate- 
ly by intuition, or in his usual way, by 
laborious study, he would choose the latter, 
for study is itself a felicity. His readings 
were extensive and varied. He stitdied 
Rembrandt to learn how to enjoy the strug- 
gles of light and darkness: Wagner to appre- 



ciate certain musical effects; Dickens to give 
a whirl to his sentimentality: Mark Twain to 
flavor his humor; Emerson to kindle new 
light within; Edwards to catch glances of 
the spiritual world, and Chalmers and Hotlge 
that he might touch the chain that led on to 
the hiding places of the soul. His public 
addresses, lectures and magazine publica- 
tions if collected would make several volumes. 
At the dedication of Arcadome Hall, Decem- 
ber 18, 1857 (destroyed by tire March 23, 
1874), he responded to the toast: "Our 
orator — whether at driving out a fever with 
jalap, or a fit of the blues with a joke, 
tuning up a bass fiddle or a broken consti- 
tution, he is always equal to the emergency, 
and like a true flint (as his Dutch name 
indicates), strikes fire every time the steel 
touches him." In this hall, January 12, 
ISoS, he delivered one of his most scholarly 
and scientific lectures on the completion of 
the laying of the Atlantic cable, entitled 
" The Marriage of the Old and New World." 
The parties were living on the two sides of 
an ocean, and were married by extending 
their hands acro.ss it, and the telegraphic 
cable was the wedding tie. The lecture was 
thoroughly scientific, and its treatment of 
electricity, the method of its generation by 
friction and chemical action, and the ma- 
chinery constructed to develop and intensif}' 
the subtle agency, the galvanic battery, and 
the researches of Le Sage in 1774, to the 
triumphs of Morse in 1844, was lucid, 
elaborate and instructive. Among all of his 
public platform performances none were more 
popular or evinced a profounder thought, or 
a keener analysis of propositions and subject 
matter, or gave him a wider reptitation, than 
his disquisition upon the Reciprocal Influ- 
ence of Mind and Body. He had in contem- 
plation and partially completed for publica- 
tion, a work on Anatomy, Physiology and 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



369 



Hygiene, to be used as a text book in col- 
leges and schools. 

He became a Free Mason, at Harrisvillo 
Lodge, Medina County, Ohio, in 1848, and 
was worshipful master of Ebenezer Lodge, 
"Woostor. for eleven years. He was grand 
scribe of the Grand Chapter in 18nO-6l, and 
high priest of Wooster Chapter for fifteen 
years, and held the office until his death. In 
1862 he was grand king of the Grand Chap- 
ter of Royal Arch Masons. He was a mem- 
ber of Massillou Coinniandery, No. 4, Knights 
Templar, for a number of years. At the lay- 
ing of the corner stone of Wooster City Court 
House, October 9, 187S, which was con- 
ducted with high ceremony by the Ancient 
order, he delivered the address. It was a 
masterly effort, opulent in its reproductions 
of the traditions and antiquities of the 
Ancient order, and, withal, diffused with the 
soundest patriotism and the keenest intelli- 
gence upon the legal science and the maxims 
of jurisprudence. 

He was a member of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows; the Independent 
Order of Red Men; of the Knights of Pyth- 
ias, Rising Star Lodge, and holding its 
highest office, that of Chancellor of the State; 
of the Royal Arcanum, and was supervising 
medical examiner of Ohio for six years, and 
died maintaining that position. Dr. Joel 
Seaverns, medical examiner-in-chief, Rox- 
bury Mass. , in a letter referring to his death, 
wrote : 

The Dnclor w.as active, earnest and faithful in 
his duties as supervising e.vaminer, and thoroughly 
careful and scrupulous in seeing that instructions 
were complied with. His correspondence witli me 
had always been brief but to the point, and I had 
learned to regard his opinions as conservative and 
valuable. It will be hard. I think, for us to select 
a successor as well qualified and as faithful as he 
had been. 

He permanently settled in Wooster in 1856, 



where he lived and which was his home until 
his death, which occurred from apojslexy 
November 9, 1888. He was above the 
medium height, weighing over 200 pounds, 
with full projecting brows and sharp penetrat- 
ing eyes. The expression of his countenance, 
in rest, was grave, but its serious cast was 
often relieved by a peculiarly pleasant smile, 
indicative of the geniality of his disposition. 
His face was plainly illustrative of the buoy- 
ancy and vivacity of his mind. He did not 
think the best way to become old was to let 
the heart grow gray. To the writer he said 
a few months before he died: "Yes, I am ap- 
proaching seventy; the light is on. I am 
over the hill -top and hurrying down the slope 
to the river. " As he passed en the thought 
of the poem he so much loved flashed upon 
me, and I quote its first stanza: 

Not yet, my soul, these friendly fields desert. 
Where thou with grass, and rivers and the breeze, 
And the bright face of day, thy dalliance had; 
Where to thine ear lirst sang th' enraptured birds; 
Where love and thou that lasting bargain made. 
The ship rides trimmed, and fromth' eternal shore, 
Thou hearest airy voices; but not yet, 
Depart my soul, not yet awhile depart. 

The consciousness seemed upon him then 
that there were but a few remaining bars of 
rest between the strains of his remaining life. 
On matters of religion and the ultimate ex- 
istence, he gave the evidence of his utmost 
belief and faith in Christianity, a Savior, a 
Resurrection and a God of Redemption ; and 
this was emphatically confirmed for many 
years, by his visible union with the chtirch. 
Many of his reflections, reverently indulged, 
on matters pertaining to the soul, its iuiinite 
possibilities and eternal destiny, are remem- 
bered, and many were unexpressed, which 
neither takes from nor adds to the abysmal 
depth of the mystery which surrounds us all. 



370 



]VAYXE COUNTY. 



Who made the heart 'tis He alone 
Decidedly can try us; 
He kuows each chord, its various tone. 
Each string, its various bias; 

and it is within the sphere of the Christian 
gentleman to believe that he had suffered the 
inner martyrdom and preparation for death. 



L. KIEFFER, ESQ., is the second 
child and eldest son of Adam Kief- 
— ■" fer, and was born May 12, 1S29, 
in Greene Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. 
His infancy was one of marked peculiarity, 
there being, perhaps, no one born in the 
county under a more hopeless condition 
than he. At his birth his weight was not 
quite one and a half pounds, and he 
scarcely filled a quart measure. He was 
pronounced devoid of vitality, but, to sat- 
isfy her curiosity, an old lady in attend- 
ance pressed the point of a needle into 
his forehead, and he made a sudden jerk 
with his arms, which was the first sign of 
life made visible. It is said of Fohi, the 
founder of the Empire of China, that at 
the moment of his birth he stood erect and 
then walked across the room ; but not so 
with "Squire Kieffer; it took over two 
years before he was able to walk. When 
about six years old he began to grow 
rapidly, and when his sixteenth year was 
finished his height was six feet, two inches, 
in his stockings; his matured height is 



six feet, four and one half inches, and his 
average weight about 200 pounds. He is 
a man of extraordinary talent, from youth 
showing an ardent desire for mental im- 
jjrovement; but, under strict parental re- 
straint, the greater part of his minority 
passed away without education. After- 
ward he attended the academy at Canaan 
under Prof. Xotesteiu, select school in 
Seville under Prof. Foster, and college at 
Edinburgh under Prof. Hill. His design 
in life was to be a man of letters, but 
feeling unable to endure the constant bit- 
ter opposition of all his immediate rela- 
tives, among whom he wished to live in 
peace, he took up the art of building. 
After acquiring a thorough knowledge of 
architecture and civil engineering, he be- 
came a noted master of the profession, 
which he followed for about thirty years; 
and much is due him for the discovering, 
inventing and adding new and useful 
features to the art. D. L. Kieffer is the 
first one of the numerous descendants of 
his great-grandfathei", Michael Kieffer, 
who saw and appreciated the propriety of 
education. He felt that a kind Providence 
had given him his talents and bade him 
to improve them. Stimulated under these 
impulsions, in the fall of IS-tG he embarked 
for the " Canaan School."" He was the 
first one to engage (as it was then looked 
upon) in the degenerating enterprise. 
It was thought that sloth and corruption 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



371 



prompted him to resort to this perversion 
of principle. Suspicion marked liim as a 
rascal of the lowest grade. But, how- 
ever, rectitude has won him, and he is a 
man of freedom from any moral obliquity. 
He believes in helping to bear the burdens 
of one another. This he cannot refuse, 
and with a heart overflowing with merci- 
ful kindness, he helped and endorsed, 
even for his bitterest enemies, until they 
reduced him to poverty, and now utterly 
despise him for being in want. For ten 
years, during the winter season, he fol- 
lowed school-teaching in Milton, Greene, 
Wayne and Canaan Townships, in Wayne 
County, Ohio. In the summer of 1854: 
he was married to Miss Kebecca Spang- 
ler, a native of Wayne Township, and 
a daughter of Peter Spangler, Sr. Her 
grandfather's name was Yost, that of 
her great-grandfather was Peter, and that 
of the father of her great-grandfather 
was Casper, the latter of whom came from 
Palatinate, upon the Rhine, and, with a 
crew of 109, sailed on the ship " William 
and Sarah," under captaincy of AVilliam 
Hill. They landed in Philadelphia Sep- 
21, 1727, and on the same day attended a 
meeting of what was called " The Board 
of the Provincial Council," at the old 
court-house in Philadelphia, and took the 
oath of allegiance as a colony in the 
province of Pennsylvania, then subject to 
the crown of Great Britain, to the maj- 



esty of King George II and his succes- 
sors, kings of Great Britain, etc. 

D. L. Kieffer and wife are the parents 
of one child, George Lincoln Kieffer, a 
youth of much })romise and intelli- 
gence. In 1881 D. L. Kieffer was aj)- 
pointed family historian of the great 
Kiefl'er family, of which he kindly fur- 
nishes the following historical sketch: 

We trace our ancestral lineation back to France— 
to the fifteenth century— to tbe commencement of 
the persecution of the religious reformers in ihat 
kingdom, who, because of their meeting for wor- 
ship in the night time in subterraneous vaults near 
the gate of the city of Hugon, were, by way of 
contempt, called "Huguenots;" this being previous 
to tlie permanently estiiblisliing of surnames among 
mankind, the custom of which took rise in France 
about the twelfth century, but was not universally 
assumed until about 80;) years thereafter. About 
this time there existed a large relationship in the 
southern part of the Kingdom of France, known 
by the name of "Michael." These claimed descen- 
sion from the illustrious Michael, surnamed Au- 
dronicus, whose glory shone in ancient Byzantium 
in the thirteenth century, and, on the assuming of 
surnames, one of these Michaels in France was 
surnamed Tonnellies (the French name of cooper), 
hence his name was Michael Tonnellies. He was 
the great-great-grandfather of my great-greai- 
grantlfather. and one of his sons was named De 
Wald Tonnellies. About the year 1063, at the time 
the darkness of persecution and massacre of the 
Huguenots hung over France in ils direst aspect, 
under the heinous scepter of Queen Catherine, this 
De Wald Tonnellies departed from France to tind 
peace and refuge in Germany. He was a native of 
Paris, and was of wealiliy and noble ancestry. But 
under the inspiration of the love, light and guid- 
ance of the Gospel, he chose abandonment of 
friends, ease, rank, nativity and heritage of estate, 
and became striker at the anvil for a blacksmith 
at Kettenheim. And now, under comp\ilsion of 
change of language, habits, society, occupation 
and circumstances all around, he deemed it eligible 
also to change his name from Frencli to (Jerman, 
namely: from De Wald Tonnellies to De WaUl 



372 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Kuefer (Tonnellies being the French name for the 
coopering trade, and Kuefer the German name for 
the same). He now saw that he must, as it were, 
commence life anew. Stimulated under these con- 
victions, he unstrung ever}' nerve to rectitude, in- 
dustry and economy, and in course of time he came 
to be master of the forge himself. Late in life he 
was married, and came to be the father of one son, 
whom he named Michael, in honor of his native 
ancestrj'. At the time of his arrival at Kettenheim, 
Germanj- was under the imperial power of the wise 
and humane Emperor Maximilian II, who is said 
to have been the most amiable prince that ever 
swayed the imperial .scepter. With most sanguine 
benignity he tolerated religious reformation, which 
seemed to have a benign influence upon the hearts 
of all of his people, and, with vehement salutations, 
they welcomed to their open arms those who fled 
from martyrdom in France. 

After De Wald Kuefer, the great-grandfather of 
my greatgrandfather, who fled to escape the perse- 
cution in France. had enjoyed true peace in Germany 
for about fiftj'-five years, "papal wrath" here, too, 
.spewed vengeance, and now baptized with tears 
and blood the peaceful plains of Lutzeu. Now the 
religious war commenced in Germany, and raged 
for thirty years, commencing in 1G18. and ending 
in 16-18. When this war commenced the Kuefer 
family, which is now so large, was in its mere in- 
fanc3', consisting of but our revered great-grand- 
sire, De Wald, and bis only child, son Michael, 
the wife and mother being dead. Michael, like 
his father, too, came to be a blacksmith; was. too, 
advanced in years when married, but came to be 
the father of three sons — Jacob. Slichael and De 
Wald. And these three sons and brothers were the 
first ones of our name to cross the ocean for Amer- 
ica. The}' came over with Francis Daniel Pastor- 
i(jus. a native of Sommerhousen, in Franconia, who 
brought over a small colonj' chieflj- from Cleves. 
in Westphalia. June 8. 1683, they took passage 
on board the ship "The America," and sailed from 
Rotterdam, under Capt. Joseph Wasey. landing on 
the soil of the New World, at Philadelphia, August 
20th of the same year. Philadelphia having Just 
been laid out previous to their arrival here, and 
the rude aspect of the new country, in contrast 
with their native home, presenting to them most 
lonel}' and fearful forebodings, the three Kuefer 
brothers were induced to return to Europe. Jacob. 
the eldest of these three brothers, had five sons — 
Michael, Valuntine. Leouhardt, Friederich and 



Jacob. In 1689 he and his two eldest sons went up 
to Denmark. In 1699 these two brothers. Michael 
and Valuntine. through the conflict between Lord 
Nelson and the confederacy of what was called 
"The Northern Powers against the Naval supe- 
riority of Great Britain." crossed the ocean and 
came to settle in the province of Canada. In 1732 
the other three brothers — Leonhardt. Friederich 
and Jacob — came to America on the ship "Samuel," 
under Capt. Piercy. sailing from Rotterdam August 
11. 1732, and landing at Pliiladelphia October 10; 
after a stay of about two months, they returned to 
Germany. Michael, the second of these three 
brothers, had two sons, and these, after arriving at 
manhood, went back to France to enjoy the life of 
the fatherland and of their ancestr}'. Here their 
name of Kuefer became changed to Kevere. De 
Wald. the youngest of these three brothers, was 
the grandfather of my grandfather; he had four 
sons — Abraham. Casper, Martin and Michael. Of 
these four brothers, about sixty-five years after 
their father and two uncles had visited America, 
and while the great war between Great Britain. 
Germany. France, Spain. Austria. Sardinia and 
Holland was raging in its highest heat, the two 
eldest, namely: Abraham and Casper, came to 
America. They took passage on board the ship 
"Two Brothers." under Capt. Arnatt, sailing 
from Rotterdam July 20, 1748. and landing in 
port Philadelphia September 15 of the same year. 
About this time the spelling of our name became 
changed from Kuefer to Kicffer. so as to pronounce 
the same in English as in German. The third of 
the four brothers, Martin, never crossed the ocean. 
But Michael, the j'oungest of the four, was my 
great-grandfather. He was born May 8, 1724. near 
Kettenheim, in Europe; May 10. 17o0. he was mar- 
ried to JIargaret Miller, of the same place, born 
December 11, 1729. They were the parents of eleven 
children, born and named as follows; Anna Eliza- 
beth, February 21, 1752; Anna Odilia, December 12, 
1753; Anna Barbara, October 16, 1755; Anna Eva, 
May 5, 1757; John Jacob, October 15, 1759; Anna 
Elizabeth, July 26. 17G1; John Michael, November 
4, 1763; John Adam, August 7, 1765; Anna Margaret, 
August 23. 1767; John Valuntine. May 1, 1769; J. 
Valuntine, the second, born November 26, 1772. 
Anna Elizabeth, the first born, and the first-named 
John Valuntine, died in infancy, and are buried at 
Zweibriicken, in Europe. In the year 1773. about 
the time of the threatening crisis which, from 
the great revolution in Sweden, the dismemberment 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



373 



of Poland by Russia, Prussia and Austria, filled 
every heart with constenialion throughout the 
German Empire, Michael Kieffer, our great-grand- 
father, with his wife and nine remaining cliildren, 
started from Zweibriicken for America, sailing on 
sliip " Britannia," under Capt. Peters, April lo, 
1T73. AVhile on their voyage his wife took sick, 
and on the 10th of May she died, and was buried 
amidst the waves of the Atlantic. After a voyage 
of over ninety days of " troubled farings on the sea," 
he, with his nine children, landed in the port of 
Baltimore. On his arrival here, Anna Odilia, his 
eldest daughter, suddenly sickened and died, and 
was buried at that place. His family was now 
completely scattered: two of the children lay in the 
earth of Zweibriicken, his wife was buried at sea. 
and the oldest daughter in Baltimore. He now 
took the remainder of his family and went to Bed- 
ford Count}', Penn., where he remained eight 
years. He then crossed the Alleghany Mountains, 
and settled in Somerset County, same State. Here, 
March 26, 1805, he died, in the eight3--first year of 
his age, and was buried in Brother Valley Town- 
ship, Somerset Co.. Penn. His eldest son, Jacob, 
our grandfather, was born October 15, 1759, and 
was fourteen years of age when he came from Eu- 
rope. September 2, 1787. he was married to Eva 
Margaret Fritz, a native of Lancaster County. 
Penn., born September 37, 1769. To them were 
born nine children: Michael. Margaret, Elizabeth, 
Adam, Mary, .Jacob, Susanna, Joseph and Eva, all 
born in Somerset County, Penn. 

In the spring of 1814 he, with his family, im- 
migrated to Wayne County, Ohio, and settled on 
the northeast quarter of Section 35, Milton Town- 
ship. This was the second family in the township. 
Their hardships and privations were manj-. The 
Indian, the bear, stag. wolf, porcupine and the 
rattlesnake were their daily visitors. After endur- 
ing the trials and privations consequent to pioneer 
life, after battling with the forest for about thirteen 
years, when the wilderness just began to put forth 
the first buds of hope and promise, he was sum- 
moned to his death-bed, and on February 23, 1828, 
he died, in the si.xty ninth year of his age. and was 
buried in the family graveyard on his place. His 
widow died September 29, 1843, and was buried by 
the side of her husband. Michael, their eldest son, 
was born August 7, 1788, and was married to Eliz- 
abeth Giedig, of his native place; in 1820 she died, 
and was buried in the graveyard of his father; in 
1823 he married Barbara Hoffman, a native of 



Elsas. in Europe; in 1836 he died in Milton Town- 
ship, on the farm whereon he settled in 1815. in 
the forty-ninth year of his age, and was buried by 
the side of his first wife. Margaret, the eldest 
daughter, wiis born Septeml)er 22, 1789. and was 
married to Benjamin Sanford, a native of the State 
of Vermont: she died November 5, 1839, in Copley 
Township, Summit Co., Ohio, in the fiftieth year 
of her age, and was buried in the center of Copley. 
Elizabeth, the second daughter, was born June 12. 
1793, and was married to Peter Flickinger, a native 
of Hagerstown, Md. ; she died August 23, 1843, in 
Greene Township, on the farm whereon she and 
her husband had settled in 1815. and was buried in 
the family graveyard of her father. Adam, the 
second son, was born October 23, 1795, married 
Maria Lasure, a native of Lancaster Count}', Penn. ; 
he died in Greene Township, November 20, 1853, 
in the fifty-ninth year of his age, on the farm 
where he and his wife settled in 1830, and was 
buried in the graveyard at Smithville. Mary, the 
third daughter, was born September 10, 1798, and 
married James Medsger; she died in the forty-first 
year of her age, in Milton Township, September 
14, 1839, on the farm whereon she and her husband 
settled soon after thej' were married; she is buried 
in the old family graveyard. Jacob, the third son, 
was born February 21, 1802, married Rachel Kem- 
merer; his wife died February 5, 1843, and was 
buried in the old family graveyard; in 1806 he 
died, in the sixty-fourth }'ear of his aire, on the 
farm where he and his wife had settled soon after 
they were married, and was buried in Milton 
Township. Susanna, the fourth daughter, was 
born April 29, 1804, married John Young; she died 
in the seventy-first year of her age, in 1875, in 
Milton Township, on the farm whereon she and her 
husband had settled in 1825. Joseph, the young- 
est son, was born January 5, 1807, and married 
Mary Blacher: he died in Milton Township in 1800, 
in the fifty-fourth year of his age, on the farm 
where he had settled with his parents in 1S14. 
Eva, the youngest child, was horn August 11. 1809: 
in 1830 she married Jacob Billman; in 1844 she 
died on the farm where she and her hu.sband had 
settled in 1830, and was buried in the graveyard of 
St. Paul's Church, in Wayne Township. This may 
truly bo said to have been a generation which had to 
encounter many trials and hardships. Thej' settled 
in Milton Townshi]) before tliere were any roads 
established in or near the township. Coming here, 
they had to make the road as fast as they went 



374 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



from Canton, in Stark County, to where they locat- 
ed in Milton Township, Wayne County. Rather 
remarkable, as. in course of time, one after another 
conimenced for himself, they settled on farms of 
their own, whereon they remained until they died^ 
not one of them moving once until taken to the 
grave. The faith of their religion was the creed of 
Luther. Mine were the parents of ten children, 
viz.: Elizabeth, Daniel L., Jacob J., Quincy A., 
Jesse S.. Mary M., Joseph J., Catherine E., Josiah 
M. and Isaiah N., all born and reared on the farm, 
and all principally following the calling of the 
farmer, except the last named, who follows the 
ministry. 



tr^INCLAIR JOHNSON, a son of 
James and Mary Johnson, was born 
February 23, 1824, on the farm 
now owned by him in Salt Creek Town- 
ship, Wayne Co., Ohio. His grandfather, 
Thomas Johnson, jjrevious to the War of 
1812, moved from near Baltimore, Md., 
to Fayette County, Penu., where he re- 
mained several years, and then came to 
Wayne County, arriving April 9, 1816; 
he died in a fit of apoplexy on the road 
southwest of Dalton, this county. He 
was the father of five children, three sons 
and two daughters, all now deceased. 

James Johnson, father of tlie subject 
of this sketch, and also a native of Mary- 
land, removed from there to Fayette 
County, Penn., where he married Mary, 
daughter of John White, of Unioutown, 
same State. Here they located for a 
brief time, and then came to Salt Creek 
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, where they 



settled on the farm now owned by Sin- 
clair Johnson. James Johnson died Oc- 
tober 26, 1870, and his widow in 1885. 
Their children were William W., Isaac 
S., Ruth and Sinclair. Of these, William 
W. married, and located in Salt Creek 
Township, AVayne County (he died at his 
late residence, near Wooster) ; Isaac S. 
married, and located in Salt Creek Town- 
ship, where he was engaged in agricult- 
ural pursuits, and died; Euth married 
! W. C. Grant, of Stark County, Ohio. 

Sinclair Jobnsou, the subject of this 
memoir, when a child of eight months 
was stricken with fever, remaining ill for 
a period of three days, when he apparent- 
]y fully recovered, his mother leaving 
him at play upon the floor while she en- 
gaged in spinning. His screams called 
her attention, when she discovered that 
the child could not draw his limbs after 
him, and found that he had lost the use 
of his lower limbs. He, however, retained 
his mental and physical vigor, and per- 
severed in securing an education, receiv- 
ing an elementary training in the schools 
of the county. In 1851 he graduated from 
Jefferson College, and became a profes- 
sional and eminently successful teacher, 
having taught at Fredericksburgh, Mid- 
dletown, Shelby, Apple Creek, and in 
other schools of the county. 

On March 1, 1860, he married Lucinda 
B. Hatfield, and they have four children, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



375 



viz.: Mary E. (uow Mrs. Amos B. Deir, 
of Frankliu Township), James A., Isaac 
A. aud Sarah I. Cuinnugham. of Valpa- 
raiso, Iml. Ill 1880 Mr. Johusoii was 
again visited with an afHictioii, a stroke of 
palsy, which necessitated the relinquish- 
ment of active business life. Mr. John- 
son is a Prohibitionist, and both he and 
his wife are members of the Presbyterian 
Church, aud he has been a ruling elder a 
number of years in his church at Apple 
Creek, Ohio. In his afflictitni he feels 
that " He who noteth even the fall of a 
sparrow must have some purpose in the 
fate of one like him." Mr. Johnson has 
been reasonably successful fiuHucially, 
and is much esteemed by a large circle of 
acquaintances. 



GURTIS Y. HARD, a well-known aud 
highly respected citizen of Wooster 
City, and a man whose success in 
life has been of his own making, was born 
in Wooster, Ohio, August 3, ISiS. His 
father, M. K. Hard, was a native of Me- 
dina County, Ohio, to which county the 
grandparents of Curtis V. had come from 
Vermont, in 181U. The ancestral lines 
on both the father's aud mother's side 
extend far back in America — on the fa- 
ther's side several members of the family 
bearing arms in the Revolutionary War, 



being with Ethan Allen at the storming 
and capture of Ticonderoga. Originally 
the family stock was English, and came 
to America about the middle of the seven- 
teenth century. 

M. K. Hard, the father of our subject, 
grew to manhood in his native county, 
and directed for a time his attention to 
the study and practice of medicine, but 
later devoted himself to the ministry, in 
which vocation he spent some twenty-five 
or thirty years of his life. He chose as 
life's partner Miss Miranda Booth, of Me- 
dina County, who bore him six children, 
all of whom save one still survive, three 
of them iu Wayne County. Owiug to the 
nature of his calling, the home of the Rev. 
Hard was not permanently fixed until 
1870, when he aud his aged wife came to 
Wooster to spend their declining years, 
and here they still reside. 

C. V. Hard received the advantages of 
the common schools of his native town, 
and later, for a time, attended Berea Col- 
lege, near Cleveland, Ohio, then returned 
to Wooster, where his life has since been 
spent. In 18(34, being yet but a boy, he 
enlisted iu the One Hundred and Thirty- 
fifth Regiment Ohio Volunteer lufanti-y, 
and proceeded at once to the South, and 
formed part of Sheridan's army iu the 
Shenandoah Valley. The following j-ear 
he received an honorable discharge, and 
returned to his home, where he is now 



376 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



familiarly kuowu by tlie title of Colonel, 
from the position of lieutenaut-colonel he 
held in the National Guards. 

In 1866 he became identified as book- 
keeper with the banking house of Boue- 
witz, Emrich & Co., and at its reor- 
ganization into the National Bank of 
Wooster was promoted to the important 
position of cashier, which encumbency he 
is still most satisfactorily filling. He is a 
man of sterling business qualifications, 
possessing few enemies and many friends. 
In 1870 he was united in marriage with 
Miss Addie Jackson, a teacher in the 
Wooster puVilic school, and the daughter 
of Cyrus Jackson, of Wayne County. Of 
this union four children have been born. 

In political life Mr. Hard is a stanch 
Republican, having always the interests 
of his party at heart, working earnestly 
for his friends, yet never seeking his own 
political preferment. He is a member of 
the Masonic order and the G. A. K. 



Y^>VID LEHMAN, one of the prom- 
I Jl inent farmers of Wayne Township 
— -" and who at the time of his death 
was one of the oldest citizens of Wayne 
County, was a sou of Henry Lehman, and 
was born in Berks County, Penn., Sep- 
tember 18, 1802. Henry Lehman was 
married to Margaret Oberlin, by whom he 
had six children — three sons and three 



daughters — David being the second child 
and eldest son. In 1823 the family left 
Berks County and settled in Wayne Town- 
ship, Wayne Co., Ohio, where Henry 
Lehman paid .$1,200 for 160 acres of land, 
which he bought of Dennis Driscoll, and 
later David Lehman purchased from his 
father previous to the latter's death, thus 
becoming owner of the tract of land above 
referred to. David Lehman followed 
farming all his life. 

In 1829 he was married to Susan, 
daughter of Jacob and Christiana Kint- 
ner, and eleven childi-en have been born 
to this union, as follows: Sarah (Mrs. 
Elias Snyder), born in 1829; Jacob, born 
in 1831 ; Christiana (Mrs. Daniel Keifer), 
born in 1833; Elizabeth (Mrs. Victor 
I Gallagher), born in 1835; David, born in 
I 1837; Henry, born in 1839; Harriet, 
born in 1842; Daniel, born in 1844; 
Mary, born in 1846; Simon, born in 1849, 
and Sophia, born in 1851. and died in 
1855. Mr. Lehman had always been a 
' hardworking man, as the result of which, 
coupled with his good management, he 
had been enabled to retire from active 
labor, and was living in the village of 
Madisonburgh, enjoying the fruits of his 
former efforts, until death called him to 
his final rest, August 10, 1889. In all 
the relations of life he had the esteem and 
respect of his neighbors and acquaint- 
ances. In politics he was a Democrat. 





6^^^i^^. 




^ / r. 



AGED 86 YRS. 



C^^^^^ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



379 



FiRANK SHILLING, sou of John 
Sliilling, a native of Pennsylvania, 
-" and one of the early pioneers of 
Canaan Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, was 
born January 12, 1852. He lived with 
his father and worked on the farm until 
he became of age, receiving a fair com- 
mon-school education. January 16, 1873, 
he was united in marriage with Miss Mar}', 
daughter of William Kiser, and they are 
the parents of two children, William K. 
and Nellie L. William Kiser was born in 
Westmoreland County, Penu., July 18, 
ISUi, and came to Wayne County, Ohio, 
with his father-, John Kiser (a native of 
Maryland), by wagon, in 1822, locating 
on a farm near Killbuck, in the eastern 
part of Congress Township. He worked 
bard and industriously to help support 
his parents, and in course of time, by 
economy and judicious management, he 
was enabled to purchase the old home 
place, where he lived for many years and 
where he died. 

One Nicholas Prine entered the land 
which is now the home of Mr. Shilling, 
and many years ago offered to sell it to 
Mr. Kiser for $110, payable in sums not 
less than §10 at a time; but of even this 
liberal offer Mr. Kiser was then unable to 
avail himself. Leaving home, however, 
at tlie time of the construction of the 
Pittsburgh Canal, in company with one 
Michael Totten, he and his friend went to 



work at the then considered good wages 
of $8 per month; and after several years 
hard labor he managed to save enough 
money to buy himself a home. In 182tJ 
he purchased of Mr. Prine, for $320, the 
property spoken of above, which was then 
all in the woods, and he immediately com- 
menced to cut down the timber and clear 
himself a farm. By hard work, thrift and 
good management Mr. Kiser amassed a 
fortune, being at the time of his deatii, 
March Ki, 188b, owner of 422 acres of 
line farm land. 

Mr. Shilling, the subject proper of this 
biographical memoir, is much respected, 
and is recognized as one of the careful, 
prudent, industrious and progressive 
farmers of Wayne County. 




ILLIAM SHIBLEY, Wooster, 
was born in Germany in 1842, 
and is a son of Gottlieb Schible, 
as he spelled his name. The latter, with 
his wife and children, immigrated to 
America in 1854, locating first in Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, and going thence, in 1860, to 
Missouri, where both of the parents died. 
Their family consisted of ten cliildreu, 
all born in Germany. 

The subject of these lines received his 
early education in his native land, and 
was about twelve years old when he came 



380 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



to this country. For four years after his 
arrival he worked at various employments 
in Cincinnati, and in 1858 came to Woos- 
ter to learn the ti-ade of a jeweler with his 
brother Lewis. He served until 1861, 
and on the outbreak of the Eebellion en- 
listed in the Sixteenth Ohio Infantry, 
serving his adopted country for over three 
years, being in service the entire time, 
except three weeks he was iu a hospital 
near Vicksburg, Miss. He was in all of 
the engagements in which his regiment 
participated, but was never wounded. He 
was all through the siege of Vicksburg, 
his brigade being the first to make the 
assault at Chickasaw Bayou. October 31, 
1864, he was honorably discharged at 
Camp Chase, and returned to Wooster, 
where he worked for his brother until 1876. 
In April of that year he began business 
for himself in a watch, clock and jewelry 
store, which he still carries on. 

In October, 1869, Mr. Shibley was 
united in marriage with Miss Rosa Young, 
a daughter of "Wendell and Rosa (Hahn) 
Young, and a native of Ohio. Mr. and 
Mrs. Shibley are members of the Evan- 
gelical Lutheran Church of Wooster. He 
belongs to Given Post, No. 183, G. A. R., 
of Wooster, and both he and his estimable 
wife are widely and favorably known 
throughout Wayne County as people of 
integrity, whose good name has never 
been tarnished. Starting in life poor, the 



success which Mr. Shiblej' has attained 
is very flattering to him. It is due to his 
earnest and industrious character, and to 
his correct habits, and in a lai-ge measure 
to the help of a wife who has in all things 
been a helpmate to him. 



h 



EWIS SNYDER is one of the well- 
known citizens of Wayne Coiinty, 
within who.se borders he has passed 
more than half a century. He was boru 
in Union County, Penn., May 19, 182-4. 
His father, Jacob Snyder, was also a na- 
tive of that State, born in Berks County, 
near Reading; he was by occupation a 
farmer, and, on reacliing manhood, was 
united in marriage with Susannah Hock, 
who likewise was born in the Keystone 
State, and who became the mother of 
Lewis Snyder. In the fall of 1836 this 
couple came to Wayne County with their 
family, for whom they wished to make a 
home iu this then new country. Their 
settlement was on a farm in Franklin 
Township, upon which the remainder of 
their lives was passed. The father was 
called to his eternal rest August 7, 1860, 
at the age of sixty-nine years, after a resi- 
dence here of twenty years, and the 
mother in 1880, at the age of eighty- 
seven years. Both were faithful mem- 
bers of the Lutheran Church, and both 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



381 



Imd in this county, as well as in their old 
home, acquired the confidence and re- 
spect of the people among whom their 
lot was cast. The father had been, in his 
younger daj's, married previous to the 
union with the mother of our subject, and 
b_y that marriage had become the parent 
of two children. Of his later iiniou 
there were twelve children, eight of whom 
— four sons and four daughters — grew to 
maturity. Jacob Snyder was, in his ear- 
lier years, an active member of the Whig 
party, and voted and worked for the 
grandfather of our present President, 
Gen. William H. Harrison. 

Lewis Snyder, subject of this bio- 
graphical sketch, was twelve years old 
when his parents came to Wayne County, 
and has ever since been a resident here. 
He stayed on the home farm, assisting 
his father in the toil of developing it 
from the wilderness, until he was twen- 
ty-five years of age, at which time he 
took the first step toward making a home 
for himself by becoming united in mar- 
riage with Miss Sarah Morr, a native of 
Ohio, and a daughter of Philip and Sarah 
Morr, pioneers of Wayne County. Her 
father died when she was a little gii'l, 
but her mother survived many years, 
dying on their farm in Franklin Town- 
ship, at the age of seventy-six years. 
As pioneers, and as good and useful 
citizens, who had led honorable and up- 



right lives, they were highly respected, 
and will be long remembered. Philip 
Morr, grandfather of Mrs. Suyder, was 

i a Revolutionary soldier. Lewis Snyder 
and his young wife began their married 

1 life on a farm which he had purchased 
in Franklin Township, and there they 
I'emained for twenty-six years, working 
assiduously to clear up and thoroughly 
develop their land, in which object they 
succeeded, and thus laid uj) a competence 
for their old age. This was not accom- 
plished without much hard work, sup- 
plemented by frugal habits, but in their 
declining years they can now take a rest 
from their toil, and look back with sat- 
isfaction upon a life well spent. In 1876 
they retired from active labor and re- 
moved to the city of Wooster, where 
they have since resided, in their pleasant 
home on Vine Street, surrounded by 
every material comfort. Four children 
came to bless their home, three of whom 
are yet living, comfortably settled in 
homes of their own. The eldest, Ann 
Maria, is the wife of Andrew C. Miller, 
of Franklin Township; Sylvester G. mar- 
ried Miss Jane Eeed, of Franklin Town- 
ship, and also lives in that township, ork 
his father's farm, and Lavinia Elizabeth, 
with her husband, William Levers, resiiles 
in Wooster. The one that died was au 
unnamed infant. 

Our subject takes much interest in pub- 



382 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



lie affairs, in which he keeps well posted, 
but always avoided holding office. He 
has, since its formation, been a supporter 
of the Republican party. He and his 
wife are consistent members of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Ch arch of Wooster, which 
counts them among its active workers. 
Mr. Snyder is a self-made man, as he had 
no assistance in making his start in life. 
The financial success he has achieved is 
due to the inherent qualities of the man, 
aided by his faithful wife, who has for 
forty years been a wise counselor and a 
capable helpmate. In addition to other 
property they still own 160 acres in 
Franklin Township, where thej- lived so 
long and where they laid the foundation 
of their prosperity. They will long be 
remembered as among the best class of 
Wayne County's honored pioneers. 



• IILLIAM BLACKWOOD, retired 
farmer and stock-dealer, Orrville, 
Ohio, is a native of Perry County, 
Peiiu., and is a son of Joseph and Hester 
Blackwood, the former a native of Ireland 
and the latter of Lancaster County, Penn. 
They were married in Perry County, 
Penn., and lived there until 1817, when 
they immigrated to the then western State 
of Ohio, locating first in Miami County, 
but a few years after buying a farm in 




Shelby Count)', where they spent the re- 
mainder of their lives. Joseph Black- 
wood was an industrious man, was well- 
educated for those times, and for many 
years was an elder in the Presbyterian 
Church, of which all the family were 
members. He was born March IT, 177U, 
and died December 28, 1851, aged seven- 
ty-two years and nine months. His wife 
was born in February, 1781, and died 
September 22, 1865, aged eighty-one 
yeais and nine mouths. They were mar- 
ried June 25, 1805, and were the parents 
of eight children, of whom William is the 
eldest; next came Polly Ann, born Octo- 
ber 18, 1808, who died in Pennsylvania; 
John, born May 25, 1810, immigrated to 
Iowa, and died there ; Mary, born October 
25, 1813, is the wife of David Dey, and 
lives in Iowa; Margaret, born February 
11, 1816, is the wife of Thomas Skillen, 
and lives in Shelby County, Ohio ; Robert, 
bornMay26, 1819, was killed October 31, 
1871, by a runaway team : Eliza Ann, born 
April 2, 1822, is the wife of Henry Young, 
and lives in Quincy, Mich. ; Sarah Jane, 
born December 8, 1826, became the wife 
of John Lawrence, and died in Shelby 
County, Ohio, September 20, 1854. 

William Blackwood was born near Land- 
isburgh, Penn., April 29, 1806, and was 
eleven years old when his parents came to 
Ohio. He worked at home until he was 
twenty-two years old. when he went back 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



383 



to PeDUsylvania, stopping in Cumberland 
County the first year, and then going to 
work on the canal, subsequently teaming 
between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and 
again on the canal, and at various kinds 
of work. In the fall of 1831 he returned 
to Ohio, visiting a few weeks with his fu- 
ture wife's people, who had a short time 
before emigrated from Cumberland Coun- 
ty, Penn. On February 16, 1882, he was 
mai-ried at Wooster, Wayne Co., Ohio, to 
Miss Hannah, daughter of David and 
Elizabeth Gaixluer. She was born in 
Cumberland County, Penn., June 5, 1812, 
and died in Orrville, September 23, 1882. 
They were the parents of seven children, 
viz.: Elizabeth, born February 3, 1833, 
wife of Samuel Taggart, Joseph, born 
August 28, 1835, Mary, born October 8, 
1837, all living in Orrville; Sarah, born 
December 13, 1839, is the wife of James 
Brown, of Akron, Ohio; John, of whom 
further mention is made below; William, 
born October 21, 1844, lives on his father's 
farm in East Union Township, Wayne 
County; and David G., born October 30, 
1850, is a resident of Orrville. After his 
marriage Mr. Blackwood worked around 
for three years, when he leased a farm 
near the site of the village of Orrville, on 
which he lived for five years, then going 
to Sugar Creek Township for two years ; 
thence to Stark County, Ohio, for three 
years, and tlien to the farm of 22(; acres 



which he yet owns in East Union Town- 
ship. There he lived until 1872, when 
he removed to his present home in Orr- 
ville, which he built. For twelve years 
while on the farm he followed threshing, 
also dealing in stock, continuing the lat- 
ter business several years after his remov- 
al to Orrville. He was of too active a 
temperament to be contented on the farm, 
and traveled extensively in pursuit of his 
business, visiting many parts of the coun- 
try and the principal cities. He is a 
self-made man, active and industrious, 
well thought of by his neighbors, and 
well known among the older residents of 
the county. He is a member of the Pres- 
byterian Church, and in politics is a stal- 
wart Democrat, as are all of his sons. 

John Blackwood, the second son of 
AVilliam, was born in Stark County June 
5, 1842. He was brought up on the farm 
in this county, living there until his mar- 
riage, which took place May 25, 18H-"). 
His wife's maiden name was Eliza Kliuir, 
a daughter of David and Matilda Kling, 
residents of Greene Township, where her 
father died January 21, 1876, aged sixty- 
five years and twelve days. Her mother 
is still living in that township, within a 
mile of where she was born and reared, 
and is now (1888) in her seventy-fifth 
year. Her parents were among the earli- 
est pioneers of that part of the State, as 
were also the Klings. Mrs. Blackwood 



384 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



was born April G, 1844:. John Black- 
wood continued on his father's farm until 
two years after his marriage, when he I'e- 
moved to Orrville, and carried on the 
Mansion House Hotel for two years, then 
engaged in the livery business, which he 
carried on until 1884, when lie sold busi- 
ness, building and stock, and has since 
been dealing in horses. Mr. and Mrs. 
Blackwood have two sons, named Guy D. 
(born January 6, 1867) and Eugene Les- 
lie (born June 2, 1870). The former is 
express messenger on the Wheeling & 
Lake Erie Kailroad, and the latter is a 
pupil in the high-school at Orrville. 
While a strong Democrat in jjolitical 
opinion, Mr. Blackwood has never sought 
political office. He is an active, stirring 
man, and stands well in the community. 



JEEEMIAH E. NAFTZGER is one 
of Wayne County's best known cit- 
izens, and is proprietor of the Em- 
pire Flour and Feed Mill, at Wooster, 
the first mill ever built in Wayne County, 
having now been in existence for more 
than sixty years, and being widely known 
all over that section of the country. He 
was born in Congress Township, Wayne 
County, April 8, 1826, a son of John 
and Elizabeth (Rider) Naftzger, the for- 



mer a native of Lebanon County and the 
latter of Fayette County, Penn. The 
father was a miller and also a farmer, and 
in 1816 he and his wife migrated to 
Wayne County, where he resumed those 
occupations. When he first came to Ohio 
John Naftzger first stopped in Conotton, 
where he built a mill. He afterward built 
two mills on Killbuck Creek, which be- 
came noted in the early history of the 
county, and supplied the material for the 
"staff of life" to thousands of the early 
pioneers. About the year 1829 the 
mother of our subject passed away, and 
the father later was married to Catherine 
Haag, a native of Germany, who a few years 
afterward joined the majority, and he 
chose a third partner, who still survives. 
His first wife became the mother of eight 
children, and the second of two. Of his 
third marriage there was no issue; of 
the first wife's children two are now living. 
Jeremiah R. and a daughter, Mrs. Eliza 
Hower, of Chautauqua, N. Y. ; her husband 
was at one time a merchant of Cleveland, 
Ohio. The two children of the second 
wife are also living, one in Dakota and one 
in Indiana. In August, 1866, the sturdy 
old jjioneer was called home, at the ripe 
age of eighty-eight years. His life had 
been one of struggle and hardship, but 
his steadfast perseverance in the course 
he had marked out for himself enabled 
him to overcome all obstacles, and make 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



385 



his life a success in the broadest sense of 
the word. He bequeathed to his children 
not only a good estate, but also the price- 
less heritage of a good name. He was in 
his younger days a Whig, but on the for- 
mation of the Republican party he joined 
its ranks and thereafter fought under its 
banner. He was one of the original 
founders of the United Brethren Church 
in Wayne County, and was for years its 
principal sustaiuer and supporter. His 
mill served as a place of worship for the 
protracted meetings, and his house was a 
harbor of refuge for the ministers who 
visited this then new region. As indi- 
cated by the name, the Naftzger family is 
of German descent, but their ancestors 
settled in America at an early day, and 
one of their descendants was a soldier in 
the Revolutionary War. 

Jeremiah R. Naftzger, the subject 
proper of this sketch, followed in the foot- 
steps of his father, and also became a 
miller and farmer, working for his father 
until he had attained his majority. In 
1847 he was united in marriage with Miss 
Anna Henney, a native of Wayne County, 
and a daughter of Peter Henney, one of 
Wayne County's pioneers. Her parents 
were among the first settlers on Muddy 
Fork, then a part of AVayne County, but 
afterward transferred to Ashland. When 
her father had been but a short time in 
Wayne County, he was out one day look- 



ing for his cows, and while unarmed 
came upon a huge bear, but by vigorous 
shouting frightened him off, and it has 
always been an open question which of 
the two was the more frightened — bruin 
or the man. To Mr. and Mrs. Jeremiah 
R. Naftzger came eight children, of whom 
Mary E., Newell R. and Cyrus L. are de- 
ceased; Albert W. is a resident of Woos- 
ter, and a miller by trade; Emma is the 
wife of John Blandford, of Wooster; 
Frank A., Adella and Alice are still under 
the parental roof. In 1866 Mr. Naftzger 
made his home in the city of Wooster, 
where he has since continuously resided. 
He bought his mill in Wooster from Mr. 
Miller, paying him therefor the sum of 
$16,000. He had bought from his father 
sixteen years before that time, in 1850, 
what was known as the Armstrong Mill, 
on the Killbuck, and in 1864 he bought 
the Canaan Mill, and removed it to the 
site of the Armstrong Mill, which his 
father had built. In 1867 he built the 
pleasant residence on Pittsburgh Avenue 
whicli he now occupies. It is on a hill- 
side, overlooking his mill and fish-ponds, 
of which he has two, the work of his own 
hands. Oue of these ponds is stocked 
with carp and the other with black bass. 
His mill now grinds about 30,000 bushels 
of wheat annually, and is fully supplied 
with all the modern inventions in milling, 
using the roller process. Its product 



finds a ready sale, and the business is con- 
stantly increasing. 

Mr. Naftzger was formerly a Whig in 
politics, and like his father joined the Re- 
publican party on its formation, having 
ever since remained a member of that 
party. The family are all respected mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
which the father joined nearly twenty 
years ago. He takes a deep interest in 
religious matters, and is always foremost 
in all its good works. He is a member 
of the orders of the Iron Hall and of the 
Eoyal Arcanum. He is widely known and 
greatly respected, and is classed among 
the most enterprising public citizens of 
both town and county, always lending a 
helping hand to any enterprise for their 
advancement. In addition to his milling 
he is also interested in the business of 
ice-cutting, which gives employment to 
large numbers of men in winter, when 
other labor is scarce. 



^ W. CHRISTY, farmer, Chester 
Township, is the eldest of the six 
children of Peter and Margaret 
(Hardy) Christy, the others being named 
as follows: Lydia J., Sarah A., David O., 
Lyman R. and Alexander H. Sarah A. 
and Alexander H. are deceased. Peter 



Christy was a farmer by occupation, and 
was one of the most successful men of the 
township. He began life a poor boy, but 
by industry, perseverance and iipright- 
ness became one of the well-to-do citi- 
zens of Chester Township, owning at the 
time of his death 300 acres of valuable 
laud. He died October 21, 1886. 

S. W. Christy was born in Chester 
Township in 1 841, and received his educa- 
tion in the public schools of his native 
township. In his boyhood he began to 
assist his father in the duties of the farm, 
and of him learned the practical lessons 
that have been of benefit to him in his 
later life. He now owns a fine farm of 
200 acres, all of which was formerly 
owned by his father. Mr. Christy en- 
listed in the defense of his country in 
1862, and was assigned to Company D, 
One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio In- 
fantry. He sers'ed nine months, when, on 
account of sickness, he was obliged to 
leave the field of battle, and returned 
home, where he again took up the more 
peaceful pursuit of agriculture. Mr. 
Christy was married in 1869 to Elizabeth 
J. Wills, daughter of James Wills, of 
Wayne County, and they have had a fam- 
ily of five children: Herman (deceased). 
Homer (deceased). Myrtle, Mary and 
Laura. In politics Mr. Christy is a 
Republican. He and Lis family are 
members of the Presbyterian Church. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



387 



dfOHN C. WELKEE. Of the repre- 
sentative farmers of Chippewa 
Township, Wayne County, none 
stand higher in the respect and confidence 
of the public than this gentleman. His 
industry has won him a competency, and 
his integrity the respect of all with whom 
he has come in contact. He was born in 
Birkenfeld, Oldenburg, Germany, De- 
cember 25, 1823, and is a son of Jacob 
and Louisa (Ault) Welker. He was 
reared and educated in his native country, 
and served six years and five months in 
the German army imder the Grand Duke 
of Oldenburg. He learned the black- 
smith's trade under his father and brother, 
and came to America in 1851, stopping 
eight months in Philadelphia, and in Feb- 
ruary, 1852, he located in Litchfield, 
Medina Co., Ohio, where he worked as a 
journeyman five years. 

Li 1857 he settled in Milton Township, 
Wayne Co., Ohio, and embarked in 
business for himself as a blacksmith and 
wagon-maker, and here he was success- 
fully engaged for twenty years. In 1877 
he located on the farm he now occupies 
in Chippewa Township, Wayne County, 
and has since followed agricultural pur- 
suits. In January, 1856, he married Re- 
becca, daughter of Christopher and Sally 
(Hollowville) Lance, of Chatham, Ohio, 
and by her has had nine children, as fol- 
lows: Sally (Mrs. AVilliam Miller), Lou- 



isa, John C, Jr., Franklin A., Julia 
A., Henry M., Rebecca J. (Mrs. H C. 
Gross), Albert F. and Marian C. Mr. 
Welker is a member of the German 
Reformed Church ; he is a Democrat. 




OSANNA WARNER, widow of 
Joshua Warner, Sr., was born in 
Chester Township, Wayne County, 

November 21, 1818. Her father, 
Nathaniel Edmunds, was a farmer by oc- 
cupation, and was born in Tuscarawas 
Countj% Ohio. Mr. Edmunds married 
Mary Smith, a native of Ohio, and twelve 
children were born of this union. The 
family came to Wayne County about 18 12, 
and settled upon a wild piece of land, 
having to clear away the brush and build 
a log house for shelter, and in this house 
Mrs. Wai-ner was born. Mrs. Edmunds 
died in 1830, aged upward of forty years, 
and Mr. Edmunds died in 1854, at the 
age of sixty. 

Rosanna Edmunds was married, April 
12, 1842, to Joshua Warner, Sr., son of 
Nathan Warner, who emigrated from 
Pennsylvania to Tuscarawas County, and 
thence to Wayne County in 1811. Nathan 
Warner was married, in New York State, 
to Ann Adelia Davis, who became tlie 
mother of eleven children. He died in 
1844, atthe ageof eighty years, and in 1850 



Ins widow followed him to the grave, at the 
age of eighty-eight. They were much 
troubled hj Indiaus. There were only 
three houses iu Wooster City, and the 
nearest grist-mill was seventy-five miles 
away. In 1812 the settlers built a block- 
house to protect themselves from the 
depredations of the Indians, and in this 
I the scattered inhabitants at times took 
shelter. This building is still standing, 
and forms a part of the residence of the 
Warner family. Joshua Warner and his 
wife, after their marriage, came to the 
farm where Mrs. Warner now resides. 

•Joshua Warner was born in Northamp- 
ton County, Penn., July 29, 1798. When 
liut two years of age he removed with his 
father to Tuscarawas, and thence to 
Wayne County in 1811. He remained 
with his father on the farm until his death. 
His father and boys cut out the State 
road the length of their land, the Kill- 
buck bottom being almost impossible to 
cross, they fording the stream slightly 
north of the bridge, at Joseph Eichar's. 
Bears, panthers, wolves, deer and rattle- 
snakes were in abundance. A portion of 
Beall's troops encamped at the spring on 
tlie old homestead. Captain Blackburn, 
who was a splendid man, stayed with his 
men on the premises for two weeks. An- 
other portion of the soldiers encamped 
about a mile west of this. The Methodists 
organized a society at his father's house 



as early as 1812, and it was the first Meth- 
odist organization in Wayne County. 
Quarterly meetings were also held there 
by distinguished divines like Adam Poe, 
Bigelow, Christie, Finley and others. 
And here Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Warner 
reared a family of nine children, who are 
all members of the Methodist Church; 
and here, also, Mr. Warner died, Decem- 
ber 18, 1877, in his eightieth year. The 
life of Joshua Warner was a sei'mon of 
itself, uttered in simplicity and truth. In 
early life he became a Christian, and fast- 
ening onto the truths and promises of 
the Scriptures, was carried on to final tri- 
umpli. He lived in an atmosphere of 
prayer — ^" the soul's sincere desire." The 
nine children are as follows: Mary D., 
now Mrs. Eev. Isaac Beebe, residing near 
Warsaw, Ind. ; John B., a graduate of 
Fort Wayne College, also resides near 
Warsaw, Ind. ; Phebe is at home, taking 
care of the mother; Wesley, one of the 
substantial farmers of Wayne County, 
residing in Plain Township, was born in 
this county March 18, 1850 (on the 2d 
of October, 1873, he was married to Miss 
Anna E. Yost, daughter of Christian 
Yost, and a native of Wayne County. 
Their union has been blessed with five 
children, namely: Harry S., Glenn Yost, 
Wesley Clyde, Paul J. and an infant, not 
named. Mr. Warner is an earnest Pro- 
hibitionist, and he, his wife and two chil- 



[VAYNE COUNTY 



389 



dreii are members of the Oak Cliapel of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. 
Warner is widely known, and is iiighly 
esteemed and respected by all who have 
the pleasure of his acquaintance. His 
home is on a part of the old family home- 
stead, in the edge of Plain Township. 
The comfortable and substantial improve- 
ments on the farm are the result of his 
own industr}- and thrift) ; Eunice is now 
residing with Lizzie, now Mrs. AVilliam J. 
Woodward, near Warsaw, Iiid. ; Emma 
L., who has taught a numljer of terms of 
school in this and adjoining counties, with 
great success, and is now mistress of the 
Canaan school; Francis A. was born on 
the old homestead, April 2, 1860, and has 
farmed the place principally since his 
father's death (has made great improve- 
ment, which shows his good taste and 
skillful management, and is highly re- 
spected by many friends and all who know 
him. Was married December 25, 1888, 
to Miss Mary Bahl, daughter of Solomon 
Balil, and a native of Wayne County. 
Mr. Warner has made several prospecting 
trips to Western Kansas with great suc- 
cess and honor. He donated the pulpit 
furniture and parsonage lot to the first 
cliurch built in Rush County, Kas. Now 
owns and resides on the old homestead) ; 
Edgar H., the youngest of the Warner 
family, was married February 23, 1888, to 
Miss Joanna Franco, daugiitor of .John 



France, of Wooster, Ohio, and now re- 
sides at Rush Center, Kas. 

The Warner family is one of the best 
known and respectable in Wayne County, 
having by long residence, industry and 
high character done very much for the 
advancement of the community. The 
Warner family has resided in America 
since 1G90. The maternal great-grand- 
father of the Warner children was a sol- 
dier in the War of the Revolution. During 
the war, on the approach of the British 
troops, they were in the habit of flying 
from their homes and hiding until the 
danger was past. On the 22d of Sep- 
tember, 1888, the first family reunion was 
held at the old homestead, at which forty 
representatives were present. 



NDREW OBERLIN was born in 

Lancaster County, Penu., August 

-^ 28, 1844, and is a son of Abram 

and Mary (Stewart) Oberlin. His 
paternal grandfather was Andrew Oberlin, 
a native of Lancaster County, Penu., who 
settled in Summit County, Ohio, in 1836, 
and died there. The maternal grand- 
father of our subject was Richard Stewart 
a native of Ireland, and a resident of 
Lancaster County, Penu., for many years, 
Abram and Mary (Stewart) Oberlin, par- 
ents of Andrew, whose name heads this 




390 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



memoir, settled in Franklin Township, 
Summit Co., Ohio, in 1848, where they 
i-esided until their deaths. 

Their son Andrew was reared and edu- 
cated in Summit County, Ohio, and has 
always been a teacher and farmer. He has 
been a resident of Doylestown, Wayne 
County, since 1874. In 1867 he married 
Amanda E., daughter of Jacob and Su- 
sau-nah (Marsh) Kepler, of Coventry 
Township, Summit Co., Ohio, and by her 
he has three children, viz. : Lindley B., 
Aria J. and Mary E. Mr. and Mrs. 
Oberlin are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. He is one of the 
prominent and enterprising citizens of 
Doylestown ; has served two terms as as- 
sessor of Chippewa Township, and was 
elected by his party to the office of county 
commissioner in 1888. Politically he is 
a stanch Democrat. 



LEVI THOMAS, a well-known citi- 
j zen of Wooster Townshi[), Wayne 

^ County, was born in Washington 

County, Md., September 24, 1824. His 
father, Lewis Thomas, was also a native 
of Maryland, and a farmer. He was mar- 
ried to Sophia Silvers, who was born in 
Virginia, and whose father was a native 
of Germany. Lewis Thomas removed to 
Wayne County at an early day, and set- 



tled on the farm now owned by his sous. 
When he first settled upon the place it 
was an unbroken wilderness, and he was 
compelled to go through the usual trials 
incident to the life of a pioneer. Here 
the family remained until death claimed 
the father and mother, the mother dying 
first, at the age of sixty, and the father at 
the age of eighty. Mrs. Thomas was a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. Their home was blessed with 
the birth of ten children — five sons and 
five daughters — six of whom are now liv- 
ing in Wayne County, two of the brothers, 
Jacob and Levi, on the old homestead, 
remaining there with their parents until 
the deaths of the latter. 

Levi Thomas received a common-school 
education, and in 1850 was married to 
Miss Mary Hutchinson, a da\ighter of 
John Q. and Nancy Hutchinson. Four 
children have been born to them, as fol- 
lows: Alice Gertrude, at home; Mary 
Ellen, now Mrs. Oscar Munn, in Iowa; 
Margai'et Jane, also in Iowa, and Lunette, 
at home. Mr. Thomas and his brother 
Jacob have always been earnest Repub- 
licans, standing firmly to their principles. 
They are both men of high standing in 
the community, possessing the respect 
and cordial good-will of all who know 
them. They will be long remembered in 
Wayne County as valuable citizens, labor- 
ing earnestly for the moral and material 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



391 



advancement of their town and county. 
Levi Thomas has built for himself one of 
the finest residences in the county. His 
wife is well known as a lady of strong per- 
sonal character, and is universally re- 
spected and beloved. The entire family 
are highly spoken of by all who know 
them. Jacob Thomas, who was born in 
1885, has never married, but, with true 
brotherly affection, has devoted himself 
to his family. The brothers are well-to- 
do, and possess one of the finest farms in 
Wayne County. 



diOHN COCKRELL was born near 
Harper's Ferry, Va., May 13, 1813. 
His parents were Robert and Pru- 
dence (Tally) Cockrell, who came to Wayne 
County in 1840, and purchased of Joseph 
Stratton the farm now owned by their 
sou, John. They were sixteen days coming 
fi'om Virginia. The father, who was in 
poor health, died the year after arriving 
here, and John and his brother conducted 
the farm, clearing the same and making 
improvements. The mother lived to be 
eighty-six years of age. Their family 
consisted of Hiram, deceased ; John ; Rob- 
ert M., deceased, and Caroline, wife of 
John Bowman, in Canaan Township. 

The subject of these lines was reared 
in Virginia, and after completing his 



schooling he engaged in teaching for sev- 
eral months. February 19, 1845, he 
married Miss Esther Ann, daughter of 
Cornelius Seely, of Lorain County, and 
they have had four sons: Robert Corne- 
lius, in Canaan Township, Waj'ne County: 
Emory McK., in Topeka, Kas. ; John 
Fletcher, who dietl January 4, 1881; 
James Finley, on the homestead, and 
married to Rosaline, daughter of Thomas 
Knapp, of New London (they have three 
children: Frank E., Elsie May and Roy 
Seely). Mr. Cockrell was engaged in 
the warehouse business at Burbauk for a 
number of years in partnership with his 
son. He is a member of the Republican 
party, and has served as school director, 
etc. He started in life with limited 
means, and by hard work and persever- 
ance he has made a success. He now 
owns a fine farm of 116 acres of land. 
He and his wife are prominent members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 



DANIEL S. TINSTMAN. Few citi- 
zens of Wayne Township, whose 
— ' association with the interests of 
the county is of so short a period, stand 
higher in the estimation of the commu- 
nity than Daniel S. Tinstman. He was 
born in Westmoreland County, Penn., in 
1841, the eldest of three children of 



392 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Christian aud Catherine (Shupe) Tinst- 
mau. His father, who has for years been 
a }>rominent farmer, is still a resident of 
that county, a hale, hearty old gentleman, 
seventy-two years of age. Daniel was 
reared on his father's farm, receiving his 
education in the common schools. He 
remained at home until after the breaking 
ont of the War of the Kebellion, and when 
twenty-one years of age enlisted as a pri- 
vate in Company B, One Hundred and 
Forty-second Pennsylvania Infantry, and 
served his country faithfully two years and 
eleven mouths, rising from the ranks to 
the first lieutenancy of his company. 
May 23, 1864, at North Ann River, Va., 
he was wounded by a minie-ball, his life 
being saved by a cartridge-box. Return- 
ing home in 1805, he for the three fol- 
lowing years was engaged in mercan- 
tile business. He then for a number of 
years was employed in the oil fields of 
Pennsylvania, and subsequently for three 
years was superintendent of the Rising 
Sun Coke Works of his father-in-law, 
Peter Sherrick. He came to Wayne 
County in 1881, and has since been ex- 
tensively engaged in farming and stock- 
raising in Wayne Township. 

Mr. Tinstman was married to Miss 
Barbara Sherrick in 1860. and they have 
one son, A. Sherrick, now a promising 
young man twenty years of age. In 
politics Mr. Tinstman is a Republican; 



he and his wife are consistent mpra])ers 
of the Presbyterian Church. 



»r=\vOBERT B. THOMPSON, one of 
r^ the best known farmers of Woos- 
Jj -^ ter Township, was born Septem- 
ber 14, 1823. His father, David 
Thompson, was a native of Westmoreland 
County, Penn., and in 1816 came to 
Wayne County, and settled where Woos- 
ter City now stands. There he was mar- 
ried to Maria Cook, daughter of John 
Cook, and a native of Georgetown, Ohio. 
To this union four children were born, 
three of whom, Mrs. William Downing, 
C. W. and Robert B., are now living in 
Wayne County. On the 26th of May, 
1860, Mrs. David Thompson died, at the 
age of sixty-four years, and on the 14th 
of March, 1880, her husband followed her 
to the grave. Mr. Thompson had been a 
pioneer, and made the improvements upon 
the farm, redeeming it from its virgin 
wild state. Both he and his wife were 
Presbyterians. 

Robert B. Thompson spent the first 
ten years of his life in Wooster, and in 
1833 removed to the farm which has since 
been his home. April 18, 1848, he was 
married to Elizabeth Rineberger, a native 
of Pennsylvania, who came to Wayne 
County when young. Her father died in 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



393 



Harrisburi^li, Penn., but her mother still 
lives in South Wooster. Two children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomp- 
son : John C, who died at the age of one 
month, and Maria Elizabeth, now Mrs. 
John M. Yoder. Mr. Thompson is inde- 
pendent in politics, using his best judg- 
ment to select proper men for positions 
of honor and trust. He is highly re- 
spected among a large circle of acquaint- 
ances, and has the confidence of all who 
know him. Mrs. Thompson is a member 
of the Presbyterian Church. 

John M. Yoder, one of Wooster's ris- 
ing young farmers, residing on Section 5, 
Wooster Township, was born in that town- 
ship April 4, 184:9. His father, Stephen 
Yoder, was a native of Pennsylvania, and 
a farmer, and came to Wayne County at 
an early day, and settled in Wooster 
Township. Here, in January, 18-45, he 
was married to Katherine Miller, daugh- 
ter of Peter and Barbara (Plank) Miller. 
Mrs. Yoder died at the age of twenty-five, 
when her son, John M., was an infant. 
After his wife's death the senior Mr. 
Yoder removed to Iowa, where he now 
resides. John M. went with his father to 
Iowa, and worked on the farm until 1868, 
when he returned to Wayne County. In 
December, 1873, he was united in mar- 
riage with Maria Elizabeth, daughter of 
Robert B. and Elizabeth (Riueberger) 
Thompson. Since his marriage Mr. Yoder 



has resided on the farm which is now Jiis 
home. To Mr. and Mrs. Yoder seven 
children have been born, as follows; Jes- 
sie M., Robert A., Stephen A., Grace J., 
John T., Edward E. and Florence M., nil 
at home. 

Mr. Yoder is regarded as a rising young 
man. In the full maturity of his powers, 
he is destined to add to the success which 
has so far followed him in life. He is 
prosperous in worldly affairs, and richer 
still in the respect and cordial friendship 
of all who know him. In politics he is a 
Rejjublican. 



AMUEL FEIGHTNER, one of the 
oldest native citizens of Wayne 
County, was born in Greene Town- 
ship in 1821, a son of Abraham and 
Christiana (Coter) Feightner. Abra- 
ham Feightner came from Westmoreland 
County, Penn., in 1819 to Ohio, and en- 
tered 160 acres of land in Greene Town- 
ship, Wayne County. He built a log 
cabin, and then moved his family to the 
county. He was a successful business 
man, and at one time owned 500 acres, lo- 
cated in different counties in Ohio. He 
died at the age of seventy-three years, 
his wife living to be eighty-eight years 
old. Of their family of ten children, but 
three are now living. 



394 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Samuel Feightner has spent his life iu 
his uative coviuty, and proudly relates 
the fact tiiat in his infancy his cradle 
was a trough cut rudely from a sugar 
maple tree. His education was obtained 
at the primitive log school-house, and by 
studying at home by the old fire-place 
after the day's work on the farm was done. 
Farming has been his life work, and his 
success is due to his energy, frugality and 
good management. He was married in 
1843 to Chrissy Shartzer, daughter of 
Philip Shartzer, of Pennsylvania, and 
they have had a family of eight children: 
Levi, Chi'istiana, Mary, Melinda, Ange- 
line, Marie, Peter and Clara. Melinda 
and Peter are deceased. Mr. Feightner 
iu his political affiliations is a Democrat. 
He and his family are members of the 
German Baptist Church. 




OBERT EWING, one of the most 
prominent and wealthy citizens of 
Chester Township, was boru in 

Huntingdon County, Peuu., Ajjril 
5, 1824, son of James and Elizabeth 
(Cresswell) Ewing, natives of Hunting- 
don County. Four children were born to 
them, all yet living, viz. : Robert, William, 
Elizabeth and Mary. William Ewing, 
grandfather of our subject, was born and 



reared in Huntingdon County, and was 
twelve years old at the outbreak of the 
Revolutionar}' War. He married Eliza- 
beth Anderson, and they became the par- 
ents of seven children — four sons and 
three daughters. He followed farming as 
an occupation, and was known as a hard- 
working man, of powerful endurance, 
great strength and excellent health. A 
sister, Catherine Ewing, was captured hj 
the Indians and held a prisoner for seven 
years. James Ewing was also a farmer, 
and in his day was considered a success in 
the occupation. He cared nothing for 
politics. He died at the age of seventy- 
three years, his wife at the age of seventy- 
seven. 

Robert Ewing was educated in the com- 
mon schools of his township, and, like his 
ancestors, has always been a farmer. He 
left his native couiity in 1853, and came 
to Chester Township, Wayne County, 
where he purchased 143 acres of land, 
which at that time consisted partially of 
forest, and almost all the improvements 
have been effected by himself. He was 
married February 15, 1853, to Caroline 
Henry, daughter of Abraham Henry, of 
Huntingdon County, Penn. Their only 
child, Elizabeth, now resides at home. 
Mr. Ewing was a trustee of the township 
in the years 1863 and 1804. He is a 
member of the Presbyterian Church ; polit- 
ically, a Democrat. 




(f?(riUf4^ <^^ 




WAYNE COUNTY. 



397 



ir^ E. SWITZER, farmer, is one of 
the hard-working and industrious 
citizens of Wayne County, and by 
Lis good management and frugality has 
made a success of agricultural pursuits. 
He was born near Greencastle, Franklin 
Co., Penn., in 1S25, a son of Jacob and 
Margai'et (Balsliy) Switzer, natives also 
of Franklin County, his father born in 
1802 and his mother in 1807. His father 
was by trade a day laborer or "casterator," 
at which he worked the greater part of 
his life. He died September 23, 1871, 
his wife having preceded him to the bet- 
ter life in 1808. They had a family of 
thirteen children, but four of whom are 
now living: William W., S. R., Elizabeth 
and Ellen. 

When our subject was five years old 
his parents moved to Dalton, Wayne 
Co., Ohio, and here he has since lived. 
He learned the stone-mason's and plas- 
terer's trade when he was twenty-four 
years old, and worked at it until 1883, 
since which time he has devoted his entire 
attention to his farm. He owns ninety 
acres of good land, well improved, on 
which he has lived since 1859. Mr. 
Switzer was married iu 1850 to Sarah, 
daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Miller) 
Baughman, of Lancaster County, Penn., 
and they have had a family of eight chil- 
dren: Jacob B., Margaret B., Abraham 
B., Elizabeth B., Isaac B., Ellen B., Will- 

22 



iam B. and Benjamin B. Mr. Switzer 
and his family are members of the Disci- 
ples Church. In politics he is a sup- 
porter of the Republican party. Mrs. 
Switzer's father makes his daughter's 
house his home, and is still enjoying good 
health, although now ninety years of age. 



ZENAS FUNK, son of Hugh and 
E. K. (Cornell) Funk, was born 

in Plain Township, Wayne Co., 

Ohio, in the year 1842. His grandfather, 
Jacob Funk, was a native of Virginia, and 
an early settler of Wayne County, mov- 
ing here iu 1813, and locating in Clinton 
Township. He was married three times, 
and had a family of twenty children. His 
first wife was a sister of Mrs. John B. 
Brown, and to them were born four- 
teen children, four of whom died in 
childhood. Three daughters died after 
reaching womanhood, and one, Tabitha, 
is the wife of ex-Sheriff J. J. Winbigler, 
of Ashland County, Ohio. Three sous, 
Hugh, America and Silas, who were resi- 
dents of Wayne County, are deceased, 
and three, Stephen, John and Jacob, are 
living iu Fulton County, Ohio. One son, 
Bruce, and five daughters, Charlotte, Ann, 
Rilla, Mary, and one deceased, were born 
to his last marriage. Of these children, 
America was married three times, first to 



398 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Mary Ann Cowan, then to Fanny Kauff- 
man, and last to Hannah Bauiugardner ; 
Silas was twice married, his first wife 
being Elizabeth Wells, and liis second 
Matilda Shafer; Stephen married Hannah 
Jewell ; John, Anjanette Loterdale ; Jacob, 
Rachel "Wells; Bruce, Hester Shreve; 
Charlotte is the wife of Mr. Eoss; Ann 
is the wife of Franklin Winbigler ; Eilla 
married A. A. Carr, and Mary married 
George Sinkerson. 

Hugh Funk was born in Virginia in 
1802, and came to Wayne County with 
his parents, where, in 1827, he married 
E. K., daughter of Isaac Cornell, who 
came fi-om Pennsylvania to AVayne County 
in 1813. They first settled in Clinton 
Township, and in 1834 moved to Plain 
Township, where Mr. Funk died in 1879, 
and Mrs. Funk still lives, aged eighty 
years. They had a family of seven chil- 
dren: Corpus C, in Ashland County, 
Ohio, married to Mary J. Foltz; Isaac, 
who was a member of Company D, One 
Hundred and Twentieth Ohio Infantry, 
and died while in the army; Mason, who 
died aged fourteen years; Lois, wife of 
A. G. Beall, of Mount Ayr, Iowa ; Eunice, 
deceased wife of Louis Baird, of Porter 
County, Ind. ; Laban, married to Eliza 
Bear, and is a farmer of Porter County, 
Ind., and Zenas, whose name heads this 
sketch. 

Zenas Funk was married, in 1868, to 



E. C, daughter of William R. Tyler, and 
they have had five children — Bert A., W. 
Deloss, Lois B., Isaac (deceased) and 
Zenas Paul. After his marriage Mr. 
Funk located on the farm he still owns, 
where he has been a successful farmer and 
stock-raiser. During the War of the Re- 
bellion he was a member of Company C, 
Sixteenth Ohio Infantry, and was wounded 
at Vicksburg, from the effects of which be 
has never fully recovered. He is identi- 
fied with the Republican party, and has 
served his township in various ofiicial posi- 
tions. He and his wife are members of 
the Christian Church. 



JAMES A. BRUCE, a well-known cit- 
! izen of Wayne County, is a native 
of Scotland, where he was born in 
February, 1839, and is a son of Alexander 
and Martha (Russell) Bruce. His father, 
who was a farmer, and his mother, a 
daughter of John Russell, were also na- 
tives of Scotland, and came with their 
family to AVayne County in 1S41. Here 
they settled upon a partly improved farm, 
where they spent the remainder of their 
lives. The mother died in 18G3, aged 
fifty-five years, and the father in 1S(')8, 
aged almost sixty-eight. Alexander Bruce 
was a stanch Republican, and both he and 
his wife were members of the United 



WAVNE COUNTY. 



399 



Presbyterian Church of Wooster. Mr. 
Bruce began life a poor boy, and by his 
own industry and prudence, with the aid 
of his faitliful wife, acquired a competence, 
and he also won the esteem and confidence 
of all who knew bini. 

James A. Bruce was about three years 
old when he came with his family to this 
country. His early life was spent upon 
the homestead, and he had the educational 
advantages afforded by the district and 
schools of Wooster. On the 7th of March, 
1872, Mr. Bruce was united in marriage 
with Miss Maggie, daughter of Robert 
and Martha Dobbs, and a native of Wayne 
County. Her ancestors were of Irish 
origin, but were early settlers in this 
country. Mr. and Mrs. Bruce have been 
blessed with five children : Harry, Evan- 
geline, Robert Pollock, Alexander and 
Christina, all at home. Mr. Bruce has 
four sisters living: Miua and Margaret, 
who reside in Wayne County; Christina 
(Mrs. Wallace), in Plain Township, and 
Jennie(Mrs. Knox), inlUinois. Abrother, 
Alexander, lived in Holmes County, whei-e 
he died, and where his widow and children 
now live. 

Mr. Bruce is an earnest Republican, 
and he and his wife are active members 
of the United Presbyterian Church. His 
family is widely known and highly es- 
teemed. Mr. Bruce's life, since coming 
to manhood, has been devoted to the up- 



building of Wayne County and its 
interests. He has been prosperous in 
business, thanks to his industry, intelli- 
gence and foresight, and is a leader among 
men in his community, where he is highly 
respected and warmly beloved for his 
many manly qualities. 



IfACOB J. HAMMER was born in 
K I Bavaria, Germany, March 15, 1829, 
^-^ and is a son of John A. and Christi- 
ana (Gardhefner) Hammer, who immi- 
grated to America in 1840, and settled in 
Lawrence Township, Stark Co., Ohio, 
where they followed farming and lived 
and died. They reared a family of eight 
children, viz.: Mary M. (Mrs. Allen 
Shunk), Domiuick, Jacob J., Catherine 
(Mrs. John Weaver), Simon, Andrew, 
Elizabeth ( Mrs. John Warner ) , and John 
A., all of whom are now living. 

Jacob J. was educated in the schools of 
Germany and Ohio, and served an appren- 
ticeship of three years at the wagon- 
maker's trade in Stark County, Ohio. In 
1851 he came to Doylestowu, Wayne 
County, where he worked as a journey- 
man one year, and in 1852 he started a 
shop at Easton, same county, which he 
successfully conducted until 1857, when 
he removed to Milton Township, where lie 
was engaged in farming ten years. In 



400 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



1867 he located ou the farm he now occu- 
pies in Chippewa Township, where he has 
since resided. About fifty acres of his 
farm are underlaid with a valuable coal 
deposit, which was developed hj the Sil- 
ver Ceeek Miuing & Railroad Company, 
and is now being operated by H. E. 
Loomis. In 1854 Mr. Hammer married 
Miss M. E., daughter of Benjamin and 
M. E. (Whitman) Kindig, of Chippewa 
Township, Wayne County, and by her had 
twelve cliildren, as follows: John M., 
Charles B. (deceased), Mary L., Christi- 
ana I. (Mrs. Peter Schwalbach), Andrew 
B., Clement L. V., Rebecca E., Catherine 
L., Emma M., Augusta C, Josephine M. 
and Grace. Mr. Hammer and family are 
members of the Catholic Church. He 
served two terms as trustee of Milton 
Township during his residence there, also 
two terms in Chippewa Township. Polit- 
ically, he is an out and out Democrat. He 
is one of the leading farmers of Chippe- 
wa Township, and is deservedly popular 
in the community. 



ri( NDREW MOORE, JR., is a son of 

fl\i. John and Hannah (Bovard) Moore, 

Jj -^ natives of Beaver County, Penn., 

who came to Wayne County in 

1812, and entered a tract of 160 acres of 

laud, which is now owned by his sons. 



They did not settle on this tract perma- 
nently, however, until 1814. Andrew 
Moore, brother of John, also came to 
Wayne County in 1814, and entered an 
adjoining tract of 160 acres of land. He 
married Nancy Caldwell, and they died 
leaving no issue. He was in the War of 
1812. At his death he left $1,000 to 
Wooster University, and divided his land 
between Andrew Moore, Jr., and his 
brother Robert. The parents of our sub- 
ject were married January 25, 1814. His 
mother was a member of the first log Pres- 
byterian Church of Beaver County, and 
after moving to this county they both 
took an active part in the Pi'esbyterian 
Church of East Union Township. John 
Mooi'e died October 15, 1863, and Hannah, 
April 25, 1860. They reared a family of 
six children, as follows: Jane, married to 
Abijah Carry, and died January 29, 1851; 
Margaret, now Mrs. James Cook, in Salt 
Creek Township, Wayne County ; Andrew, 
Jr. ; Robert, in East Union Township, 
Wayne County; Mary Ann, married to 
William Hackett, and died May 2, 1852; 
Susanna, married to Enos Johnson, and 
died March 6, 1864. 

Andrew Moore, Jr., the subject of this 
sketch, was born on the homestead he 
now occupies, in East Union Township, 
Wayne County, February 6, 1819. His 
education was gained in the log school- 
house of that period, he liaving to walk 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



401 



three miles to reach the same. He has 
always remained ou the homestead. May 
11, 18-43, he married Miss Deziah, daugh- 
ter of Johu Rogers, of Salt Creek Town- 
ship, Wayne County. She died January 
25, 1881. Nine children were born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Moore: Elizabeth, born 
July 19, 18-i4, is the wife of Ebeuezer 
Thomas, of A[)ple Creek, Wayne County, 
and their children are Edwin, Hettie, 
Andrew and Mary; John R., born March 
15, 1846, lives on a part of Andrew 
Moore's homestead, in East Union Town- 
ship, and is married to Emma Armstrong, 
by whom he has four children: Nora, 
Delano, William and Isie; Amos, born 
September 17, 1847, married Elizabeth 
Dill, of Apple Creek, Wayne County (they 
live in Holmes County, and have two 
children, John and Guy) ; Hannah Maria, 
born December 3, 1849, married R. G. 
Mei-riman, lives at home with our sub- 
ject, and has one child, Clarence; Mary 
Jane, born October 17, 1851, married 
John Smith, of Wooster, and has three 
ciiildren, Andrew, Maggie, and Nellie; 
Sarah Isiphiiie, born August 23, 1853, 
married Prof. J. B. Eberly, of Smithville, 
Ohio (she died August 4, 1878, leaving 
two children, Isie Moore with her father, 
and John, who is being reared by Mr. and 
Mrs. R. G. Merriman); Margaret D., 
born May 27, 1856, died in infancy; Ma- 
tilda Alice, born July 12, 1859, married 



Dr. Charles Baldwin, and lives in Wash- 
ington Territory (they have no children) ; 
Lola Anne, born July 20, 1868 (married 
Harry Smith, and lives in East Union 
Township, Wayne County). 

Andrew Moore, Jr., is a member of the 
Democratic party, and has served as in- 
firmary director for sis years; also held 
offices of trustee, assessor, school director 
and supervisor of the township. He is a 
ruling elder in the Apple Creek Presby- 
terian Church. 



JjACOB HOFFMAN, an old resident 
and well-known citizen of Wayne 
-^ County, Ohio, was born in Manor 
Township, Lancaster Co., Peuu., January 
16, 1792. He was a farmer by occupa- 
tion, living in his native county until 
1850. He was very fond of fishing in his 
early life, and many of the finny tribe 
have become victims of his net at Safe 
Harbor, on the Susquehanna River. In 
1850 he removed with his family to 
Wayne County, Ohio, and bought 200 
acres of land in East Union Township, 
which he cleared and improved, and made 
one of the best farms in the township. 

Mr. Hoffman was married, December 
16, 1816, to Miss Magdalena Thomas, a 
native of the same township, born Decem- 
ber 13, 1791. After a happy married life 



402 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



of over half a century this tie was severed 
by the death of Mrs. Hoffman, which oc- 
curred March 26, 1875, she dying of apo- 
plexy, at the age of eighty-three years, 
three mouths and thirteen days. Mr. 
Hoffman survived her nine years, and 
died also of apoplexy, August 8, 1884, 
aged ninety-two years, six months and 
twenty-two days. Mr. Hoffman was a 
member of the Church of the United 
Bi-ethreu in Christ over forty-five years. 
When seventeen years old Mrs. Hoffman 
joined the Evangelical Church, but after 
her removal to Ohio, in 1850, there being 
no church of her choice here, she joined 
the Church of the United Brethren in 
Christ with her husband. Father and 
mother Hoffman were quiet, unassuming 
Christians, and were faithful adherents to 
their religious principles. They had a 
family of twelve children — -eight sons and 
four daughters — as follows: John, Jacob 
T., Henry, Martha, Philip, Frederick, 
Margaret, Daniel T., Benjamin, Tobias, 
Anna, Elizabeth. Of these, John is a 
resident of Mount Joy, Lancaster Co., 
Penn., where he is the owner of a nice 
town property (he is married to Anna 
Flory, and they have one daughter); 
Jacob T. died December 14, 1873, was a 
resident of Wayne Township, and was 
the owner of fifty-two acres of laud (he 
was married to Lydia Baker, and they had 
two sons and five daughters, all but 



one daughter now living) ; Henry, of Mil- 
ton Township, died March 29, 1875, the 
owner of a nice town property (he was 
married to Elizabeth Hoover, and they 
had two sons and two daughters, of whom 
one son and one daughter are livingr ) ; 
Martha, widow of Emanuel Geyer, owns 
a good farm of eighty acres in Wayne 
Township (Mr. Geyer died September 12. 
1865; they had a family of three sons 
and one daughter; one son is deceased) ; 
Philip died August 22, 1822; Frederick 
and Margaret, both unmarried, own a 
good farm of sixty-eight acres in Wayne 
Township, which is well improved, and is 
one of the pleasantest homes in the town- 
ship (they have taken a little girl, Cora 
Hoffman Berger, and intend to give her 
a good home and an education, and fit 
her for the duties of life) ; Daniel T. is ;i 
resident of Wayne Township, and owns a 
nice farm of 100 acres; Benjamin is the 
owner of a fine farm of eighty acres in 
Elkhart County, Ind. (he married Mar- 
garet Coble, and they have four sons and 
one daughter) ; Tobias died Ajiril 1, 
1828 ; Anna is the wife of Henry H. For- 
rer, of Sugar Creek Township, where 
they have a fine farm of 100 acres (they 
have three sons) ; Elizabeth, who died 
June 11, 1872, was the wife of Jonathan 
Weaver, of Wooster Township, and they 
had a family of seven daughters, three of 
whom are living. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



403 



Thus it will be seeu that TVayue Couu- 
ty has several representatives of the Hoff- 
man family, all of whom are prosperous, 
substantial citizens, and the most of them 
are members of the church, and all are 
honored members of society. 



f/ J ARRIET REICHARD, widow of 
\l~\ Daniel Reich ard. was born within 
J) — fifteen miles of Gettysburg, Adams 
' County, Penn., May 22, 1805, and 
is a (laughter of Isaac Sadler, a native of 
Pennsylvania. She was married February 
2(». 1827, to Daniel Reichard, a native of 
Franklin County, Penn., born of German 
descent. He came to Wayne Coiinty, 
Ohio, in May, 1832, and resided one 
year in the city of Wooster, coming in 
the following year to Congress Township, 
and settling near Congress Village when 
land here was selling at $5 an acre. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Reichard were born seven 
children, five of whom grew to manhood, 
four now living, as follows: Elizabeth, 
wife of Samuel Bowman, now residing in 
Michigan; Louisa, wife of Thomas Bar- 
naid. residing in the central part of Con- 
gress Township, Wayne County; William, 
married, and living in Congress Township, 
and Daniel S., a barber in West Salem, 
Oliio. 

The father died March 25, 1855, aged 



fifty years, one month and twenty-two 
days. He was a consistent member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church; the 
mother is now making her home with her 
son, Daniel S., hale and hearty, at the 
advanced age of eighty-four years, in the 
enjoyment of good health, and bidding 
fair to live many years. She has been a 
zealous member for over sixty years of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. Samuel 
Yost is now owner of the old Reichard 
homestead, near Killbiick. Daniel S. 
Reichard was married October 1-1, 1809, 
to Miss Mary Hershey, daughter of 
Abram Hershey, and born March 23, 
1850, in Congress Township, Wayne Co., 
Ohio. Her father came from near Pitts- 
biirgh, Penn., and was among the early 
pioneers of Wayne County, entering land 
one mile northeast of the village of Con- 
gress. To Mr. and Mrs. D. S. Reichard 
was born, January 20, 1874, one child, 
Nevada. The parents are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and are 
closel)^ identified with the social and edu- 
cational interests of their township. 



{ BRAM HERSHEY was born near 
l\ Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co., Penn., 
^ April 10, 1817, and died in Con- 
gress Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
April 26, 1889. He remained in his na- 




404 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



tive State uutil manhood, and in March, 
1843, came to Ohio, and located in Con- 
gress Township, Wayne County, where he 
entered laud about a mile northeast of the 
village. He was married in May, 1844, 
to Eebecca Newcomer, of Congress Town- 
ship, and settled on his farm, which he 
made his home the rest of his life. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Hershey were born ten 
children, nine of whom lived till maturity, 
and eight are still living. Their eldest son 
Jacob, died about seventeen years ago, and 
had been married about two years at the 
time of his death. Four sons and foiir 
daughters are now living, viz. : Harrison, 
William, Franklin, Charley, Elizabeth, 
Mary, Armanda and Maria. All are married 
except Charley, who lives with his mother 
on a part of the old homestead. Their 
present farm consists of sixty-five acres, 
the rest having been sold to Newton 
Stanley. All the children are residents 
of Congress Township except Armanda, 
who lives in Mansfield, Ohio. 




W 



VTLLIAM MILLEE, farmer, was 
born in Columbiana County, 
Ohio, April 5, 1827, a son of 
Abraham Miller. When he was two 
years of age, his parents moved to Wayne 
County, and settled in Chester Township, 
where he was reared and educated. In 



his youth he learned the carpenter's trade, 
at which he worked seven years, and then 
learned the cooper's trade. He has also 
given his attention to agriculture, and 
now owns one of the best farms in Plain 
Township, on which he has lived since 
1870. He has never sought ofiicial hon- 
ors, preferring the quiet of home life, but 
gives his suffrage to the Democratic party. 
He-was married in 1852 to Elizabeth, 
daughter of George Snyder. She died, 
leaving one son, Stephen Albert. Mr. 
Miller subsequently married Margaret 
Rice, and to them were born six children, 
five of whom are living ; Sarah Elizabeth, 
A. O., Susan M., Mary J. and William 
R., all of whom are at home. Mr. and 
Mrs. Miller are members of the Luthei-an 
Church. 



THOMAS ROTH, one of the most en- 
terprising and progressive farmers 
of Wooster Township, was burn in 
Northampton County, Penn., March 
18, 1819, and is the son of George A. and 
Mary (Ritter) Roth. His father was also 
a native of Northampton County, and was 
a farmer, and also operated a grist, saw 
and clover-seed mill. His wife Wfis a 
native of Pennsylvania, and of German 
descent. Eight children were born to 
this couple, six of whom are now living, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



405 



five of them iu Wayne County. George 
A. Roth died iu 1862, aged nearly sev- 
enty years. He was a Whig when that 
party was iu existence, aud later a Ee- 
publicau. He received a good education, 
aud could use both English aud German 
with equal facility. He was a member 
of the Lutheran Church, as is his widow, 
who is now (1889) living in Wooster, at 
the age of eighty-eight years, aud is won- 
derfully well preserved, both mentally 
aud physically, for a woman of her years. 
Thomas Eoth worked on the farm dur- 
ing his early life, and upon reaching 
manhood was married to Susan Laubach, 
a lady of German descent, aud a daughter 
of Eudolph Laubach. In 1864 Mr. Eoth 
came to Wayne County, aud settled upon 
the place where he now lives. When 
he purchased it the farm was partially 
improved, but under Mr. Eoth's manage- 
ment it has been made one of the best iu 
the township. Three children have been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Eoth, as follows: 
George W., residing at home; James L., 
who died iu iufauc)', aud Selinda M. A. 
(widow of James Schmuck), who is also 
residing at home with her two daughters, 
Cora and Edna. Mr. Eoth is a Eepub- 
licau in politics, and he aud his family are 
members of the Zion Evangelical English 
Lutheran Church of Wooster. He is 
well known in Wayne County, for the ad- 
vancemeut oL' whose iuterests he has done 



much, laboring earnestly for the moral 
and material welfare of the community, 
for which he will long be held iu grateful 
remembrance. His son, George W. Eoth, 
remains upon the home farm, is a Ee- 
publicau in politics, aud is highly es- 
teemed as a youug man of excellent char- 
acter aud abilities. 



JOHN MOWEEE is a son of Henry 
aud Catharine (Dampman) Mowrer, 
uatives of Chester County, Penn., 
where he was also born, September 26, 
1812. In 1832 the family came to Wayne 
County, and first located on a rented farm 
in Baughmau Township; then, after liv- 
ing there one year, they purchased a farm 
in East Union Township, where they 
lived uutil shortly before their deaths, then 
bought a house aud lot near their sou, 
John. Henry Mowrer sent a substitute 
to the War of 1812. He died iu 1865. 
and had been an elder in the Lutheran 
Church for many years. His widow fol- 
lowed him to the grave iu the following 
year, 1866. Their family were John, 
our subject; Mary Ann, Mrs. Armstrong 
Irving, of Williams County, Ohio; Cath- 
arine, wife of Simon Ciiaffin ; Mrs. Daniel 
Bair, of East Union Township, Wayne 
County; Matilda, wife of Andrew Mil- 
bourn, of East Uuion Township; Han- 



406 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



nail and Daniel, both deceased; Henry, 
in Indiana; Peter, in East Union Town- 
ship, Wayne County. 

The subject of this memoir came to 
Wayne County with his parents, as above 
stated, and remained with them until 
lS3(i, when he located on his present 
farm in East Union Township. Decem- 
ber 24, 1835, he married Savilla, daugh- 
ter of Jacob Steele, of East Union Town- 
ship. Eleven children were born to 
them. Those deceased are one in infancy, 
and Levi, who was a member of Company 
A, One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, and died of fever in 
1NG2; the living are Harriet, who mar- 
ried John Bechtel, of Greene Township, 
Wayne County, and has five children, 
Malviu, Savilla, Elizabeth, Oron J. and 
Wilhud; Mary, wife of Isaac Rich wine, 
of East Union Township, has three chil- 
dren, Irvin, Sarah and Mary; Elizabeth, 
wife of Eli Gardner, of Orrville, Ohio, 
has four children, Lee, Charles, Ada and 
Willard; Sarah, wife of William Stein, 
of East Union Township, Wayne County; 
Emily, wife of William Huntsbarger, 
also of East Union Township; Savilla, 
wife of Frank Harbaugh, of Orrville, 
Ohio, has four children. Earnest, Emily, 
Otto and Ethel; Isaac, in Fort Wayne, 
Ind., married Elizabeth Lightfoot, of 
East Union Township, Wayne County, 
and has two children, John and Mary; 



Henry, in Nebraska, married to Miss 
Evert, and has four children, Willard, 
Savilla, Lizzie and John ; Presley, in Ap- 
ple Creek, Ohio, married Catharine, 
daughter of Ci'aig McCarthy, and has 
five children, Homer, Howard, John, 
Rowland and Jemimah. Mr. Mowrer is 
a Democrat, and has been school director, 
supervisor, etc., of his township. He 
has been an elder in the Evangelical Lu- 
tlieran Church for many years. 




ILLIAM D. RATH, farmer. This 
prominent and intelligent citizen 
of Wayne Township was born in 
York County, Penn., in 1805, of German 
parentage. His father, William Rath, 
was a soldier in the French and Holland 
War. and was captured by the French. 
and had not a treaty been eifected, would 
have been forced to engage in the war 
against England. He escaped from his 
captors, and, having only one day in 
which to reach a place of safety, was 
obliged to leave everything beliind him. 
He was married in 1796 to Mary Agnes 
Smith, and together they left their native 
land for America, the home of the free. 
They were sold to the captain of the ves- 
sel to pay their passage, and on landing 
he was engaged to work two years for a 
Mr. Findlay, for the ransom money. He 



WAYNE COUXTY. 



40-> 



served faithfully, ami at the expiration of 
the time he and his wife went to Lancas- 
ter County, Penn., and there obtained em- 
ployment by the day. From Lancaster 
City they moved to Little York, and from 
there to Baltimore, Md., where they 
lived twelve years. They then returned 
to Pennsylvania, and located near Han- 
over, York County, where the father died, 
aged ninety years. 

William D. Eath is the fourth of a 
family of eight children. When a young 
boy he was sent among strangers to work 
on a farm. As soon as he was old enough 
he began to learn the trade of a black- 
smith, which he followed in Pennsylvania 
for twelve years. He then came to Ohio, 
and settled in Seneca County, coming 
thence to Wooster, where he worked at 
his trade ten years. He then moved to 
Mansfield, Ohio, but four years later re- 
turned to Wooster. In 1848 he bought 
the farm where he now lives of Samuel 
Summers, which contains nearly a quarter 
section of land. He has made many 
valuable improvements, and now has one 
of the best farms in the township. He 
has always been a hard-working man, and 
is remarkably well preserved for one of 
his years. He has never been an aspir- 
ant for ofiicials honors, but has held sev- 
eral offices of trust in his township. In 
politics he is a sujiporter of the principles 
of the Ilepubliean [jarty He was mar- 



ried in 1830, to Sibby Allison, daughter 
of Francis Allison. She died, and he 
afterward married Lusetta Emrick, daugh- 
ter of Joseph Emrick. To them were 
boi-n seven children, six of whom are liv- 
ing, viz. : Sibby Maria, now Mrs. Kauf- 

j man; Joseph; Emma C, now Mrs. Swartz; 
Mary Agnes, now Mrs. Schramm; Cor- 
delia, now Mrs. Casky; Lincoln, now in 

. California. Mr. Rath is a member of the 
United Brethren Church. 




ACOB HUNTSBERGER, farmer, 
postoffice address Benton Citj. Ohio, 

was born in Wayne County, Ohio, 
November 7, 1845. His parents, Samuel 
and Maud (Westheffer) Huntsberger, 
were both natives of Cumberland County, 
Penn., where they were married, and came 
to Wayne County, Ohio, probably about 
fifty-eight years ago. They bought a 
farm on Section 32, in Baughman Town- 
ship, now occupied by their son, Abram 
Huntsberger. Here Samuel Huntsberger 
spent the rest of his life, dying August 
30, 1873, at the age of seventy-one years. 
He was a farmer all his lifetime, never 
engaging in anj' other occupation. Mr. 
Huntsberger was a man of upright and 
honorable character, strictly honest in all 
his dealings. Shortly before his death lie 
united with the Mennonite Church, dying 



408 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



in that faith. He is buried in the grave- 
yard attached to that church in Baughmau 
Township. His widow still lives on the 
homestead farm, where they first settled 
in this county. They were the pai-euts of 
eleven children, six of whom died young, 
and the following five are now living: 
Elizabeth, wife of Jacob E. Winger, in 
Baughman Township; Mattie, unmarried, 
in Orrville; Fannie, wife of Amos Eshel- 
man, also in Orrville; Jacob, and Abra- 
ham, on the old homestead. 

Jacob was reared on the farm, living 
with his parents until he was twenty-five 
years of age, when he afterward spent a 
year in Orrville, and a year with his 
brother-in-law. Winger. December 22, 
1870, Mr. Hantsberger was married to 
Sarah Jane, daughter of Nathaniel and 
Sarah (Galloway) Erviu, of Baughman 
Township. She was born on the place 
where she now lives, which her husband 
bought after the death of her parents. 
Mr. and Mrs. Ervin were old residents of 
Wayne County, coming here at an early 
day, and both died on the farm now owned 
by Mr. Huntsberger. They came from 
Washington County, Penn., and settled 
on the place where they passed the bal- 
ance of their days. Nathaniel Ervin died 
in 1868, and his wife a few years before 
that date. Mrs. Huntsberger was born 
September 22, 1850. Mr. and Mrs. 
Huntsberger are the parents of four 



children, viz. : Amy, born January 17, 
1872; Samuel J., born March 7. 1875; 
Mary E., born May 5, 1877, and Charles 
Jerkins, born February 3, 1880, all still 
under the parental roof. Mr. Huntsberger 
does not aspire to hold office, but has 
served his township as trustee for three 
terms. In politics he is a Republican. 
He and his wife are both members of the 
Presbyterian Church at Orrville, of which 
he is an elder. Those who know Mr. 
Huntsberger will speak of him in high 
terms of praise as a man of upright char- 
acter and principles. 



JjACOB B. SHERRICK, one of the 
enterprising farmers of Wooster 
— Township, was born in Westmore- 
land County, Penn., in 1813. His father, 
Joseph Sherrick, was also a native of 
Pennsylvania, born in Lancaster County, 
of Swiss descent, his ancestors coming to 
America in 1740, and settling in the Key- 
stone State. Joseph Sherrick married 
Barbara Beidler, and to them were born 
eight children, but two of whom, Jacob 
B. and Peter, reside in Wayne County, 
Ohio. The mother died March 4, 1856, 
aged sixty-six years, and the father in Sep- 
tember, 1864, aged nearly seventy-seven 
years. Both were of the Mennonite faith. 
Jacob B. Sherrick was reared on his 



WAYKE COUNTY. 



4o;,t 



father's farm, receiving but limited edu- 
cational advantages. He was married in 
1839 to Miss Sally Shupe, daughter of 
John and Catherine Shupe. After their 
marriage and until the spring of 1882 
they remained in Pennsylvania, their 
home being: in the coke regions. Not 
liking the society there, they moved to 
Wooster,Ohio,where, a few months later, in 
August, 1882, the devoted mother died, 
aged sixty-seven years, leaving a husband 
and four children to mourn her loss. Of 
the children, Kate, the only daughter, is 
at home, and now the housekeeper for 
her father; Isaac is in Pennsylvania; 
Joseph lives on the home farm, and John 
is a farmer of Wooster Township. The 
homestead of Mr. Sherrick was formerly 
the property of Alexander McBride. 
Politically Mr. Sherrick was in early life 
a Whig, but since its organization has af- 
filiated with the Republican part}-. He 
and his family are members of the United 
Brethren Church. His son, Isaac, was a 
soldier in the War of the Rebellion, enlist- 
ing in a Pennsylvania regiment in Au- 
gust, 18G3, and returned home at the close 
of the war, serving faithfully for three 
years. 

Joseph S., tiie second son, was born 
in Westmoreland County, Penn., No- 
vember 11. 1845, and was married in 
1887 to Samautha Myers. They have 
five children: Jacob, Annie, Cora, Emma 



and Joseph. He now has charge of the 
liome farm, thus relieving his father in a 
great measure of its responsibilities. 




RS. HARRIET WINEBREN- 
NER, for over half a century a 
a resident of Waj-ne County, was 

born in Pennsylvania, February 
15, 1823. Her father, Melchoir Rnhn. 
was a native of the same State, and of 
German extraction. He was married to 
Sarah Kapp, a native of Harrisburgh, 
Penn., and some fifty-nine years ago they 
came to Wayne Count}', both dying in 
this county — the father at the age of sixty- 
seven, and the mother one week latei", at 
the age of sixty-one. Twelve children 
were born to this worthy couple, of whom 
six now survive, one in California, two in 
Iowa and three in Wayne County. Mr. 
Rahn was a soldier in the War of 1812. 
Both he and his wife were members of 
the Reformed Church. 

Harriet Rahn came to Wayne County 
with her parents when she was about 
seven years old. In 1845 she was married 
to Calvin G. Winebrenner, a native of 
Maryland, and of German descent. He 
was a farmer, and after his marriage 
spent the remainder of his life in Wooster 
Township. Mr. Winebrenner died in 
June, 1887, aged sixty-three years. He 



410 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



was a stanch Eepublican, and both he and 
his wife were highly esteemed members 
of the Baptist Church, and she still re- 
tains her connection witli that body. 
Three sous came to bless this family: 
Lewis, living in Wooster Township ; Mel- 
choir, in Butte City, Mont., and Edward, 
in Carroll, Mont. Annie Rahn, a niece of 
Mrs. Winebrenuer, has made her home 
with her aunt since she was fourteen 
months of age. The Winebrenuer family 
is one of the most respected in Wayne 
County. Its members have grown up 
with the county, are closely identified with 
its progress and prosperity, and they are 
widely known all through this section. 
John Winebrenuer, an uncle of the late 
Calvin G. Winebrenuer, was the founder 
of the Winbreuner faith. 




NDERSON ADAIR is of Irish de- 
scent. His father, Patrick Adair, 
JJ ^ was a native of County Down, 

Ireland, but becoming involved in 
the home rule insurrection headed by 
tlie lamented Emmett, he found it nec- 
essary to leave his native land about the 
beginning of the present century. On 
coming to America he settled in Western 
Pennsylvania, where he soon after mar- 
ried Mary Stuart, by whom he had five 
children, only one of whom, Mrs. Mary 



Wilson, of Burlington, Iowa, is living. 
His first wife died about 1815. Several 
years later he married Ann Anderson, and 
to them were born five children, all still 
living: Jane E., Eliza (Mrs. J. T. Wisner), 
[ James M., Thomas A. and Anderson. 

In 1825 Mr. Adair removed to Wayne 
County, and settled on the farm where his 
son still resides. His second wife died 
shortly after tliis removal, aged thirty- 
nine years. Several years later he mar- 
ried Ann McCracken, who died in IB-IS, 
leaving no children. In early life Mr. 
Adair enjoyed no educational advantages; 
but, being a diligent reader, he acquired 
a great fund of useful knowledge. In 
business he was not successful, having 
been possessed of those qualities of mind 
and heart which make men interesting 
and honored, rather than those which con- 
duce to prosperity in worldly affairs. 
Coming to this country about the time of 
the alien and sedition agitation, he nat- 
urally accepted the political principles 
advocated by Thomas Jefferson, and con- 
tinued during the remainder of a long life 
a steadfast adherent of the Democratic 
party. He served in the War of 1812 in 
the capacity of surgeon's mate. He was 
a life-long Presbyterian. He died in 
1806, at the advanced age of eighty-nine. 
The subject of this sketch was born in 
Westmoreland County, Penn.. shortly be- 
fore the familv removed to Ohio. As a 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



411 



boy he ntteiulecl the district school. As 
a young man he perforuied the ordinary 
duties of a farmer's life till the age of 
tweuty-five, when for one year he attended 
the academy at Wooster, and for several 
years following he was engaged in the 
work of teaching. At the age of twenty- 
seven he mari-ied Henrietta McClure. To 
them were born five children, only two of 
whom are living: Edward E., a teacher, 
and John S., an attorne}''. Mrs. Adair 
died in 18G1. Shortly after the death of 
his first wife he married Miss Emeline 
Yocum, a young lady of culture and re- 
finement, a daughter of Rev. Elmer Yo- 
cum, a minister of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church. She was educated at Bald- 
win University, and afterward taught at 
West Salem, Newburgh and Wooster. 
The result of this marriage was two chil- 
dren: Robert and Jennie L. Anderson 
Adair has held various offices of honor 
and trust. He was for some years county 
commissioner of Wayne County. He has 
always been active and prominent in all 
movements that have for their end the 
advancement of popular education. He 
was one of the organizers of the Board of 
Education of Wooster Township under the 
present school law, and has been for the 
greater part of thirty- five years a member 
of it. He is now one of the oldest set- 
tlers, having lived for more than sixty- 
four vears on the farm where his father 



settled. He is a pleasant gentleman, and 
a good neighbor, having a warm place in 
the esteem and friendship of all his ac- 
quaintances. He is not a finished schol- 
ar, but a man of considerable mental 
jjower, and possessed of a good funtl of 
general information. 



EOKGE OTT, a representative and 

' successful farmer and stockbreeder 

\j of Chippewa Township, Wayne 

County, was born in Marshallville, 
Wayne Co., Ohio, March 10, 1845, and is a 
son of John and Margaret (Rech) Ott, na- 
tives of Germany (the former of Hesse- 
Darmstadt), and who were among the early 
settlers of Marshallville, Wayne County. 
There Mr. Ott, in company with his 
brother George, kept a general store for 
several years, and did a large business for 
those times. In 1853 Mr. Ott and family 
removed to Detroit, Mich., where his wife 
died of cholera in ISoi, at the age of 
thirty-three years. After his wife's death 

Mr. Ott engaged in business in the prin- 
ts 
cipal cities of the West until 1865, in 

which year he located in Lima, Ohio, 

where he died in 1806. He had four 

children: George, John (deceased), Mary 

(Mrs. Joseph Nerecher, of Cleveland, 

Ohio) and Anna (deceased). 



412 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



George Ott, the subject of this memoir, 
was reared in Wayne County, Ohio, where 
he received a common-school education. 
After the death of his mother, from July, 
1855, till November, 1863, he lived with 
his uncle, Joseph Marshall, at Burbank, 
Wayne County, working on the farm. 
From 1863 to 1865 his time was spent in 
the States of Wisconsin. Illinois and 
Minnesota, and he returned to Wayne 
County in the fall of 1865. May 7, 1867, 
he married Eosa L., daughter of Andrew 
and Margaret (Marshall) Whitman, of 
Chippewa Township, Wayne County, and 
by her he has seven children, viz. : Charles 
A., Edward L., Clara M., George A., 
Willis J., Joseph F. and Albert H. Since 
1867 Mr. Ott has resided on the farm he 
now occupies in Chippewa Township, con- 
taining about 100 acres, one mile south- 
west of Doylestown, on which lie has 
made all the improvements in buildings, 
etc., erecting his residence in 1869, and a 
large bank barn in 1875. Since 1884 
Mr. Ott has been a breeder of thorough- 
bred Holstein-Friesian cattle, and has 
dealt in registered stock since 1886. At 
the head of his herd is " Tejor," No. 
2,380, H. F. H. B.,and No. 578, N. H. B. 
(imported June 2, 1885, by T. F. Koch, 
of Chicago), now five years old, and 
weighing 2,500 pounds. Mr. Ott is a 
progressive farmer, and has his farm 
equipped with all the modern farming im- 



plements. He and his family are mem- 
bers of the Catholic Church. He is 
president of St. Bernard's branch of the 
C. M. B. at Doylestown ; is serving his 
third term as township trustee. Polit- 
ically, Mr. Ott is a Democrat. 



dOHN W. BUCHANAN, M. D., is a 
I native of Wayne County, Ohio, born 
in Chester Township, September 27, 
1860. His ancestors on his father's side, 
were of Scotch -Irish descent, and the 
grandparents came to Wayne County from 
Pennsylvania, locating first in Wayne 
Township, moving tlience to Chester 
Township, where both died. 

George Ramsey Buchanan, tlie father 
of John W., was born in Wayne Town- 
ship, in 1823, and is now living in Ches- 
ter, on a farm adjoining the one where 
his parents died. He was brought up to 
farming, teachins: school winters until the 
breaking out of the California gold fever, 
when he sailed for the New Eldorado, 
leaving February 4, 1850, going by way 
of New York and the Isthmus of Pana- 
ma. Ho stayed in the Golden State 
about three years, and then returned, 
brincriue with him several thousand 
dollars as the reward of his labors. On 
his arrival in Oiiio he engaged in mer- 
cantile business at Jeromeville. Ashland 





- V. 



\w 





'/ / ^ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



415 



County, which, however, he carried on but 
a short time, returning to his native 
county, where he took charge of the 
home farm for his parents; he has ever 
since lived there, and now owns the home 
farm, to which he has added by purchase. 
He is a man of strict Christian principles, 
a prominent member of the Presbyterian 
Church, of which he has long been an 
elder, and has always been a liberal sup- 
porter of " Chester Church." Through- 
out the county he is known as a thoroughly 
honest and upright man. He has been 
twice married, his first wife being Miss 
Mary Dunham, who died in Jeromeville, 
leaving no issue, her only child having 
died at birth. His second wife Avas Miss 
Lydia Firestone, daugliter of David and 
Elizabeth Firestone, natives of Pennsyl- 
vania, and residents of Chester Township, 
where both died. Their daughter was 
born in Wayne County, in 1834. She is 
a member of the Lutheran Church, a sin- 
cere Christian, and noted especially for 
her genei'osity and hospitality. Mr. and 
Mrs. Buchanan are the parents of seven 
children, of whom three — Fi-anklin, Sid- 
ney and Ira — are deceased; those living 
are John W. ; Cynthia Alice, wife of Har- 
vey L. Piper, of Chester Township; Mary 
E. and Edward F., living with their 
parents. 

John W. Buchanan was reared on the 
farm until he was sixteen years of age. 



attending district school in winters. He 
then went to Wooster University, where 
he spent two and a half years, after leav- 
ing which he attended Cleveland Medical 
College, Ohio Medical College, at Cincin- 
nati, and the Kentucky School of Medi- 
cine, at Louisville, graduating from the 
latter institution June 2, 1882. Follow- 
ing month he began practice at Lodi, 
Ohio, remaining sis months; then re- 
moved to Mansfield, Ohio, staying there 
until October 14, 1884, and then came to 
Smithville, Wayne County, M'here he has 
since been engaged in practice. October 
14, 1882, Dr. Buchanan was married to 
Lizzie L, only child of Henry N. and 
Susan A. Stamen, former of whom has 
been dead many years; the latter lives 
with her daughter at Smithville. Mr. 
Stamen had for a considerable time been 
a teacher, but in his later years was en- 
gaged in milling. Mrs. Buchanan was 
born in Mansfield, Ohio, November 18, 
1865. She is the mother of two children : 
Clarence S., born February 28, 1884, and 
Jolin A., born April 11, 1887. Since lo- 
cating in Smithville Dr. Buchanan has 
acquired considerable repute in his pro- 
fession, and is rapidly building u]) a 
lucrative practice. He is justly regarded 
as a rising man, and has the confidence of 
his patients, and the esteem of his neigh- 
boi's and fellow-citizens for his correct life 
and honorable character. 



fr^ EOEGE FRESH was boiu in 1819 
on the Franco-German border, his 
parents being Conrad and Susanna 
(Adams) Fresh, who immigrated to 
America about 1826 with their family, 
coming directly to Wayne County, and 
settling in Congress Township, where the 
father, who had been a soldier under 
Bonaparte, followed shoemaking, and died 
about 1836. His widow married a Mr. 
Houser, and they now live in Wisconsin. 
Mr. and Mrs. Conrad Fresh were the 
parents of seven children, as follows: 
Conrad, a judge of court in Wisconsin; 
William and Daniel, in Madison County, 
Wis. ; Jacob, who was a soldier in the 
War of the Rebellion, nearly starved in 
Libby Prison, and died in Wisconsin; 
Elizabeth, in Chicago, 111. ; Franklin, 
deceased, and George. 

George Fresh was reared in Congress 
Township, AVayne County, where he re- 
ceived all the schooling he ever had, 
namely, twenty-seven days' instruction. 
At an early age, in 1833, he was appren- 
ticed to William Spear, of Wooster, Ohio, 
where lie learned the cabinet-maker's 
trade. In 1840 he came to Congress 
Village (then known as Waynesburgh), 
and here established his present business, 
that of cabinet-maker, undertaker and 
embalmer. In 1863 he erected a tannery, 
which he has since conducted successfully; 
also owns a fine farm in Congress Town- 



ship, and several business blocks in Con- 
gress Village. In 1839 Mr. Fresh mar- 
ried Mary Bennett, who bore him eight 
children, six of whom are now living, viz. : 
Harriet (Mrs. William Painter), residing 
in Missouri; Hannah (Mrs. William 
Brown), residing in Congress Township, 
Wayne County; Didama (Mrs. John 
Clements), of Mount Vernon, Ohio; 
Cyrus, in Shreve, Wayne County; Ade- 
line, in Missouri; Charles, in Congress 
Township, Wayne County. The mother of 
these children dying in 1860, Mr. Fresli 
took for his second wife Matilda Miller, 
and they have had three children; two 
are living, Albert and Clyde; one is de- 
ceased, Frank. Mr. Fresh has always been 
a Republican, and in 1840 he voted for 
Gen. Harrison. He has served as town- 
ship treasurer for thirty years; also as 
trustee and school director; he is a prom- 
inent member of the Lutheran Church. 
Commencing life a comparatively pour 
man, Mr. Fresh presents a living exam- 
ple in his present affluence of what can 
be accomplished by industr}-, frugality 
and perseverance. 



L 



EVI DANIELS is a son of Isaac 

and Eleanor (Burnett) Daniels, na- 
tives of Maryland and Pennsylvania, 
respectively. They came to Wayne Coun- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



417 



ty from Holmes County, Ohio, in 1840, 
ami located on the farm now t)wne(l by 
Levi. Tliey reared nine children, seven 
of whom are living: Jane, now Mrs. 
Robert Armstrong, in Holmes County, 
Ohio ; Martha, now Mrs. William F. Derr, 
in Wooster, Ohio; Silas, in Knox County, 
Ohio; Isaac, in East Union Township, 
Wayne County ; Joseph, in Medina Coun- 
ty, Ohio; Jolm, in Ashtabula, Ohio, and 
Levi. 

The subject of this memoir was born 
in Holmes County, Ohio, September 15, 
1829, and has always followed farming. 
In 1856 he married Miss Sarah, daugh- 
ter of Jonas Bowman, of East Union 
Township, Wayne County, and she died in 
1884, leaving six children, as follows: 
Margaret, wife of Welker Zimmerman, in 
East Union Township, Wayne County; 
Elsie Jane and Isa, at home; Emmett H. 
and Alvin B., in Salt Creek Township, 
Wayne County, and Welker, at home. 
Mr. Daniels is engaged in stock raising 
and farming. 



MfES. MARY ANN WEBB, a well- 
known resident of Wayne County, 
Ml and widow of Henry Harrison 

Webb, was born in Greene County, 
Penn., January 26, 1814. Her father 
George J. Smith, was of German descent. 



his ancestors coming to America in the 
seventeenth century. His father, Valen- 
tine Smith, was a captain in the Revolu- 
tionary army, and lived to be one hundred 
and thirteen years old, and at the age of 
one hundred years served as captain of 
a militia company. His wife, Barbara, 
lived to the age of one hundred and three. 
George J. Smith was a farmer, and in 
1810 was married to Rebecca, daughter of 
George and Nancy (Jock) Snyder. 

In 1815 the young couple came to 
Wayne County, and settled on and cleared 
a farm west of Orrville. It was entirely 
wild when they first went upon the farm, 
and their first home was a rude log cabin. 
Afterward Mr. Smith purchased a mill in 
East Union Township, and carried it on 
for a time. Later he removed to Wyan- 
dot County, where he died in May, 1847, 
aged fifty-four years. His wife, mother 
of Mrs. Webb, died in November-, 1836, 
at the age of forty-two years. She was 
the mother of twelve children, only seven 
of whom now survive, Mrs. Webb being 
the only one in Ohio. Mrs. Webb was 
about eighteen mouths old when she came 
with her parents to Wayne County, where 
she is spending the remainder of her life. 

On the 22d of November, 1832, Mary 
Ann Smith was married to Heni-y H. 
Webb, son of Moses Webb, who was the 
son of Samuel Webb, an Englisliman. 
H. H. Webb was born in Cohimbia Couu- 



418 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



ty, Penii., July 2, 1813. For a year after 
their marriage tbey remained in Greene 
Towusliip, Wayne County, and in March, 
1864, removed to the farm which has since 
been the family home. Here Mr. Webb 
died on his seventy-fifth birthday, July 2, 
1888. He was a stanch Democrat in pol- 
itics, and held several oifices of trust, 
being a justice of the peace, and serving 
several terms as supervisor of Greene 
Township. His life was one of hard work. 
He began at nine years of age to earn his 
own living, and make his way in the world. 
He was thus one of Wayne County's self- 
made men, and with the help and encour- 
agement of his ever faithful wife, and by 
his own business enterprise, integrity and 
perseverance, gained a competence, own- 
ing at the time of his death over 1,300 
acres of land. Better than that, he pos- 
sessed the respect and confidence of every- 
one wlio knew him. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Webb eleven children were born, as fol- 
lows: Lucretia, Samuel La Fayette and 
George Wesley, all deceased; Rebecca 
M., wife of Samuel White, of Orrville; 
Annie, wife of George Fultz, living at 
home; Matilda, wife of Nathan Weimer, 
of Gallon, Ohio; Aramantha, wife of 
Thomas Trumphan, of Perryville, Ohio; 
Charles and Mary, at home; Henry, de- 
ceased; Hannah, wife of W. K. McCol- 
man, of Smithville. 

Mrs. Webb, who is very active for one 



of her years, resides upon the farm, where 
her daughter, Marj', with true filial de- 
votion, remains at home with her, having 
tenderly attended her father during his 
illness, and is now caring for her aged 
mother. Miss Mary Webb took tlie prize 
at the centennial exhibition at Columbus, 
on "Old Abe," the war-eagle, a magnifi- 
cent piece of silk embroidery; also for 
painting and pencil drawing. The Webb 
family deservedly stand high in the esti- 
mation of their neighbors. The father 
and mother were pioneers, and, as the 
above record shows, well performed their 
share in the building up of the county 
and its interests. They should be held 
in grateful remembrance by future gen- 
erations, who will enjoy the fruits of their 
labors. 



DANIEL STEOCK is a native of 
Wayne County, Ohio, born July 
— - 20, 1829. His father, Conrad 
Strock, was born September 30, 1783, in 
Pennsylvania, where he was reared and 
married to Miss Nancy Wyrick. In 1825 
they came to Wayne County, and made 
this their home until their deaths, the lat- 
ter dying in 1863, aged sixty-nine year.s, 
and the former April 15, 1806, aged eighty- 
two years, six months and fifteen days. 
Mr. Strock was politically a Republican, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



419 



and was a prominent citizen of the town- 
ship, hokliug different local positions of 
trust. He was au upright man, and had 
many friends. He and his wife were 
members of the Lutheran Church. 

Daniel Strock remained on his father's 
farm, sharing its duties, and was given 
the advantages of a common-school edu- 
cation. He was married January 21, 1856, 
to Sarah, daughter of Jolin Eodenbaugh, 
and they have but one child, Harriet, now 
tiie wife of J. H. Hunt. They have also 
one adopted son, Charles. In 1864 Mr. 
Strock enlisted in Company C, Ohio Na- 
tional Guards, and at Washington was 
transferred to the regular service, and 
served three mouths. He is a strict ad- 
herent to the princijiles of the Repub- 
lican party, and is one of the most highly 
respected and progressive citizens of the 
county. Mrs. Strock is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 



I OHN GEOEGE TROUTMAN,oue of 

Jt I the prominent and successful farmers 
^^ of Wayne County, was born in Berks 
County, Penn., September 20, 1816. His 
father, Michael Troutmau, who was born 
in Berks County in 1788, immigrated to 
Wayne County in 1829, and bought a 
quarter section of land in Wayne Town- 
ship for $1,600, originally the property of 



John and Henry Royer. Philip Trout- 
man, father of Michael, was also born in 
Berks County, Penn., and was of German 
descent. Philip was the father of six 
children, four sons and two daughters, all 
of whom grew to maturity. He was a 
farmer by occupation, owning 150 acres 
of land in Berks County. He was a 
highly respected citizen, and died at a 
ripe old age. Michael Troutmau remained 
on his father's farm until 1817, when he 
removed to Virginia, and there engaged 
in farming until his removal to Wayne 
County in 1829. He was married to 
Mary Emricb, who bore him three sons 
and two daughters, whose names were 
John George, David, Philip, Eliza (Mrs. 
Groff) and Mary (Mrs. AVyler). Mr. 
Troutman remained on the first purchased 
farm until 1850, when he sold out and 
purchased a small farm, on which he re- 
mained until his death, in 1869, one 
month after his wife's decease. He was 
very successful as a farmer. 

John George Troutman was six months 
old when his parents removed to Virginia, 
and thirteen years old when he came with 
them to Ohio. His education was acquired 
in the common schools of Wayne County 
and at a select school in Wooster; at 
twenty-one he was a student at an acade- 
my in Berks County, Penn. In 1841 he 
was married to Caroline, daughter of 
Jacob and Elizabeth (Althouse) Fryber- 



420 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



ger, of Berks Couutj, and born iu 1821. 
Eleven children were born to this union 
(ten of whom are now living) , their names 
being Sarah Jane (Mrs. Dr. Wallace, of 
Illinois), born in 1842; Mary (Mrs. 
Christy), of Wayne County, Ohio, born 
in 1843; Dr. John Troutman, of Kansas 
City, born in 1845; Michael, a banker 
in Canton, Ohio, born iu 1846; Joseph, a 
farmer in Virginia, born in 1848 ; Elizabeth 
(Mrs. Campbell, of Ashtabula County, 
Ohio), born in 1852; Frank (deceased), 
born in 1852; Emma (Mrs. McCoy, of 
Wayne County), born in 1854; Alice (Mrs. 
Wilson, now a widow) born in 1857; 
Clara (Mrs. McClure, of Wooster), born 
in 1861; Harriet (at home), born in 1804. 
Mr. Troutman has followed farming as 
his life occupation, and to-day owns 150 
acres of land, nearly all of which is under 
a high state of cultivation. The handsome 
buildings and other improvements on the 
farm have been made by his own hands 
or under his supervision. His success iu 
life is due to his own intelligence, indus- 
try and foresight, with the assistance of 
his faithful wife, who has been iu all re- 
spects a helpmate to him. For twenty 
years Mi-. Troutman was an elder iu the 
Presbyterian Church of Wooster, and a 
loyal supporter of that body. He has 
always taken an active interest in the pub- 
lic affairs of the county, and is a trustee 
of the Children's Home of Wayne County. 



In politics he is a Jacksonian Democrat, 
and as a citizen, a business man and a 
neighbor he has the respect and cordial 
good-will of all who know him. 



E 



LIAS SNYDER, farmer, was born 
iu Stark County, Ohio, in 1825, a 
sou of John and Elizabeth (Al- 
bright) Snyder. In his boyhood his 
parents moved to Doylestown, Ohio, where 
his father bought 100 acres of laud, upou 
which they lived until the father's death ; 
he died in 1837, at the age of forty-four 
years. Elias was bereft of the care of a 
mother when four years old, and was 
adopted by au uncle, Daniel Snyder, a re- 
spected citizen of Wayne County, with 
whom he lived till he was twenty-six years 
old. 

He was married iu 1848 to Sarah Leh- 
man, daughter of David Lehman. They 
have had a family of twelve children, as 
follows: Adaline L., born June 8, 1841); 
John H., born September 1, 1851; Mar- 
ion, born December 8, 1858; Daniel J., 
born March 24, 1856; Ida E., born July 
1, 1858; Cynthia A., born July 25, 1860; 
D. McClollan, boru January 7, 1862; 
Willis Byi'on, born April 16, 1865 ; Mary 
Edith, boru December 19, 1866; Effie 
Susan, born December 22, 1868; Hattie 
J., born November 80, 1871; and Delia 



L 



WAYNJE COUNTY. 



421 



Minerva, born December 25, 187-i. Mar- 
ion died November 19, 1882, aged nearly 
tbirt}' years. Seven of tliese children are 
married. Mr. Snyder has always been an 
industrious and economical man, and his 
fine farm of 161 aci'es, with its pleasant 
residence and other improvements, are the 
result of his own efforts, with the assist- 
ance of his faithful wife, and together 
they are now enjoying the reward of a 
well-spent life. They are members of the 
English Lutheran Church. In politics 
Mr. Snyder is a Democrat. 



P, A TRICK CUSICK, one of the self- 
made men of Wayne County, was 
born in County Limerick, Ireland, 
in March, 1829, a sou of Michael 
and Mary (Grady) Cusick, both of whom 
spent their lives in Ireland. He was 
one of a family of seven children, three 
of whom are living, residents of Wayne 
County. He remained in his native coun- 
try until eighteen years of age, when he 
came to America, and first found employ- 
ment as a day laborer on the grading of 
the Pittsburgh & Chicago Eailroad, work- 
ing hard to earn an honest living. In 
1848 he located in Wayne County, Ohio, 
where he has since made his liome. Dur- 
ing his long residence in the county he 
lias made many friends, his lionest integ- 



rity gaining for him the confidence of all 
with wliom he has any business dealing. 
He has alwaj's taken an interest in the 

I upbuilding of the county, and is one of 
the first to assist any enterprise that will 

I be of benefit, either materially or socially. 
In April, 1S58, Mr. Cusick married 

I Mary Hogan, a native of Ireland. She 
died April 10, 1886, aged fifty-five years, 

] leaving her husband and three children 
to mourn the loss of a devoted mother 
and wife. Since her' death Mr. Cusick 
has remained on the farm, which their 
united efforts had secured, his home be- 
ing presided over by his daughter, Mary. 
His two sons, Edward and Patrick, are 
also members of his family, and assist in 
the carrying on of his farm. His chil- 
dren are numbered among the best young 
people of the town, are popular with their 
young associates, and at home leave noth- 
ing undone that will minister to the com- 
foi't of their father. In politics Mr. Cu- 
sick is a Democrat; he and his children 
are members of the Catholic Church. 



JAMES Q. SNYDER, one of the well- 
known and progressive farmers of 
Wayne County, was born in Holmes 
County, Ohio, in March, 1848. His 
father, Daniel Snyder, was a native of 
Pennsylvania, and married Catherine 



422 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Miller, daughter of Heury and Savilla 
( Smith ) Miller. In 1837 the family came 
to Wayne County, but five years later re- 
turned to Holmes County, remaining there 
until 1866, when they again came to 
Wayne County, and here the father died 
February 28, 1885, aged sixty-nine years; 
the mother still lives on the homestead, 
and is now seventy-four years of age. 
The father was a successful business man, 
and had a large circle of friends. He was 
a devoted member of the Evangelical 
Church. Six of the eight children born 
to this family ai-e living, four in Wayne 
County. One son, Samuel, died while in 
the service of his country during the dark 
days of the Rebellion ; another son, Henry, 
served in the war three years, and is now 
a resident of Holmes County; one daugh- 
ter, Susan, is the wife of H. B. Rayle, of 
Lake County; John G. died in childhood; 
Elizabeth and James Q. are on the home 
farm ; J. Robert lives in Franklin Town- 
ship, and Savilla in AVooster Township. 

James Q. Snyder remained with his 
parents until his marriage, and then lo- 
cated on a farm not far from the home- 
stead. After the death of his father he 
returned to take charge of the farm for 
his mother, and has since made it his 
home. He was married in February, 
1878, to Sarah Young, a native of Wayne 
County, daughter of Jacob and Anna 
(Romich) Young, of Wooster Township. 



Mr. and Mrs. Snyder are consistent and 
worthy members of the Lutheran Church. 




JLLIAM HARKINS was born 
June 12, 1758, in Ireland, where 
the family, by a record kept 
since 1694, is known to have been 
cloth-weavers and possessors of real es- 
tate. He was married to Miss Esther 
Harkins in 1791, and two years later he 
immigrated to America, accompanied by 
nearly all his immediate connections and 
his brother-in-law, Patrick Porter, and 
family, and his wife's brothers and sisters. 
They landed at Newark, N. J., and in a 
short time went to Lancaster County, 
Penu. After living there four years they 
removed to Westmoreland County, Penn., 
and again to Allegheny County, and 
April 19, 1814, found them in Wayne 
County, Ohio, with but very few settlers 
ahead of them. Here they lived and 
prospered. Mr. Harkins' wife died in 
1843, and he followed her two years later. 
Of the family of four children, Margery, 
the eldest, died at the age of fifty years; 
Ellen lived to the age of eighty-seven ; 
Thomas, the elder son, died at the age of 
forty-two years. 

Hugh, the younger son, born January 
15, 1805, was married November 2, 1826, 
to Nancy Mollar. He remained on the 



same farm from the date of settlement 
until his death, which occurred January 
15, 1874, in Baughman Township, Wayne 
County. Hugh Harkius was one of the 
prominent and representative citizens of 
Baughman Township, and atone time was 
the possessor of over -400 acres of land; 
he was in tlie insurance business about 
forty years. Of his family of ten chil- 
dren, two of the daughters died while 
([uite young, and two of the sons, Robert 
and Alexander, died while serving their 
country ; Thomas died August 9, 1884, he 
having also served four years in the 
army ; William, the eldest, died in Canal 
Fulton, Ohio, December 24, 1886. There 
are still three daughters living, and the 
youngest son, John, who was born June 
17, 1843, in Baughman Township, was 
married Janiiary 4, 1866, to Miss Lytle, 
daughter of Thomas Lytle, of Baughman 
Township. He fell heir to the old home- 
stead at the deatli of his father, and lived 
there until 1877, when he moved to 
Doylestown, Wayne County, and there 
entered the grocery, grain and feed busi- 
ness, still retaining the homestead that 
had been handed down to the third gen- 
eration. He has five daxighters: Jennie, 
Ella, Bertha, Lillian and Florence. Mr. 
Harkins is a member of the Odd Fellows 
order and Knights of Pythias. The 
family are members of the Presbyterian 
Church; politically he is a Republican. 



P.ERRY YARNELL, one of the well- 
known and respected farmers of 
Wayne County, was born in Woos- 
ter Township, on the farm where he 
now lives, February 3, 1853. His 
father, Samuel Yarnell, was a native of 
Pennsylvania, and his father, Philip Yar- 
nell, was of English ancestry. In 1823 
Philip Yarnell came to Wayne County 
and settled on the lan<l wliii^h still remains 
in the family, and here remained until 
death. He had a family of five sons and 
three daughters, only one of whom, Mrs. 
Nancy Funk, of Wooster, is living. Sam- 
uel Yarnell married Elizabeth May, also 
a native of Pennsylvania, daughter of 
Daniel and Elizabeth May, of German 
ancestry, who came to Wayne County in 
1830, and made this their home until 
death. But one of their six children is 
livins: Mrs. Sarah Shreifler, of Mansfield, 
Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Yarnell 
were among the prominent citizens of 
Wooster Township, and their home was 
open to friend or stranger, all finding a 
a welcome. The poor were never turned 
away unheli)ed, and their children were 
taught early to regard the needy and 
helpless as a brother, and to lend assist- 
ance to anyone deserving aid. The mother 
died in the spring of 1875, aged fifty- 
seven years, and the father in 1879, aged 
sixty-seven years. They were members 
of the Disciples Church. They had a 



424: 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



family of seven children, three sons and 
four daughters, but four of whom are now 
living, and only two, Perry and Lucetta, 
in Wayne County. 

Perry Yaruell remained with his par- 
ents on the farm, and after his father's 
death succeeded him in its control and 
2)artial ownership. He was married, in 
1880, to Savilla Snyder, daughter of Dan- 
iel and Catherine Snyder, and they have 
one child, Bertha May. Mr. Yarnell is a 
member of the Odd Fellovvs order of 
Wooster. In politics, like his father, he 
affiliates with the Republican party. 
Mrs. Tarnell is a member of the Lutheran 
Church. Miss Lucetta Yarnell lives at 
tlie homestead. She is a member of the 
Disciples Church, and a lady of fine at- 
tainments, having many friends. She is 
a member of the Woman's Relief Corps. 



IjOHN W. SANDS, one of the well- 
>v I known citizens of Wayne County, 
~-^ was born in York County, Peun., 
October 15, 1821, a son of Samuel and a 
grandson of Andrew Sands. Andrew 
Sands was a native of Londonderry, Ire- 
land, and came to the United States prior 
to the Revolutionary War, and was mar- 
ried, in Pennsylvania, to Rachel Willis. 
Samuel Sands married Miss Mary Tate, 
dauffhter of Solomon and Susannah 



(Black) Tate. In April, 1837, they 
moved with their family to Wayne Coun- 
ty. Ohio, and located on the farm now 
owned by our subject. Here the mother 
died August 24, 184G, aged fifty-four 

. years. The father survived her a number 
of years, his death occurring March 24, 

! 18(53, when seventy-two years of age. 
They had a family of five children: John 
W. : Jane Ann, wife of Moses Loop; An- 
drew J. and Isaac N., of Kosciusko Coun- 
ty, Ind. ; and Robert, who was second 
lieutenant in the War of the Rebellion, 
and was killed by accident in a grist-mill 
twenty-five miles north of Fort Wayne, 
Ind., on the St. Jo River, May 10, 1879, 
at age of forty-five years, leaving a wife 
and one daughter, Nettie Victoria Sands, 
to mourn their sad bereavement. 

John W. Sands remained with his. par- 
ents until he was eighteen years of age, 
when he went to East Union Township 
to take charge of an uncle's farm, intend- 
ing to remain a year, but doing well, and 
being contented in that township, lie re- 
mained fifteen years. He was married 
in that township, in October, 1854, to Miss 
Nancy Jane, daughter of Conrad and 
Elizabeth Miller. Six months after his 
marriage he returned to Wooster Town- 
ship, and has since remained on the home 
farm. Mr. and Mrs. Sands have three 
children: Mary Jane, wife of George 
Roller, of East Union Township; Eliza- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



425 



betli Ann and John W., at home. In 
politics Mr. Sands casts his suffrage with 
the Democratic party. 



DAVID E. FIRESTONE, one of 
Wayne County's prominent sons, 
— ' was born in Chester Township, 
June 24, 1840. His father, David K. 
Firestone, Sr., was also a native of Wayne 
County, his parents, John F. and Rachel 
(Roller) Firestone, coming from Penn- 
sylvania in an early day, and settling 
near New Pittsburgh. David R. Fire- 
stone, Sr., married Miss Elizabeth Rice, 
daughter of Christian and Catherine 
(Laufer) Rice, natives of Pennsylvania, 
who came to Wayne County when she 
w'as three years old. After their mar- 
riage Mr. and Mrs. Firestone settled on a 
farm near New Pittsburgh, where the 
father died September 25, 1851, aged 
only forty-two years. The mother sur- 
vived him many years, her death occur- 
ring March 24, 1884. They had a family 
of eight children: Lydia, John, Rice, 
David R., Simon, Solomon, Jacob and 
Peter C. Of these, Rice and Simon are 
deceased; Lydia is the wife of G. R. Bu- 
chanan, in Chester Township; John, Solo- 
mon and Peter C. also live in Chester 
Township, and Jacob is in Medina County. 
David R. Firestone, the subject of our 



notice, remained with his mother on the 
farm until after the breaking out of the 
W^ar of the Rebellion, when, in 1862, he 
enlisted in the One Hundred and Twen- 
tieth Ohio Infantry, and served .six 
months. He was captured at Arkansas 
Post, and was a prisoner two months ; was 
then exchanged, and was finally dis- 
charged. After his return from the armj' 
he remained on the home farm until 1872, 
when he married Miss Emeline Emricli, 
daughter of John and Elizabeth Emrich, 
who came to Wayne County from Penn- 
sylvania in 1854. The mother died Sep- 
tember 24, 1883, aged sixty-nine years, 
and the father now makes his home with 
j Mrs. Firestone, who is his only child. Mr. 
and Mrs. Firestone have had two children, 
Franklin T. and one that died in infancy, 
unnamed. Politically Mr. Firestone is a 
Democrat; he and his wife are members 
of the Lutheran Church of Wooster, and 
he lias been one of the deacons for eight 
years. 

They located on the farm where they 
now live, in 1876, and have made many 
valuable improvements, until it is now 
one of the best in Wooster Township. 
He is progressive and enterprising, and, 
although but a young man, is one of the 
most prosperous in the county. In addi- 
tion to general farming he deals exten- 
sively in stock, making a specialty of 
cattle and sheep. Mr. Firestone lias a 



426 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



large circle of friends, who esteem him 
for his uprightness of character and strict 
business integrity. He is one of the 
trustees of the Children's Home of 
Wayne County, Ohio. 



HRISTOPHER AUKERMAN was 
H » born in Congress Township, Wayne 
County, Ohio, August 18, 1820, 
and is a son of George and Rebecca 
(Kishtler) Aukerman, early settlers of 
Wayne County, Ohio. George Auker- 
man was a native of Westmoreland 
County, Penn., born to Philip and Chris- 
tina Aukerman, natives of Germany, who 
settled in Westmoreland County, Penn., 
where they died. George and Rebecca 
Aiakermau were married in that coxinty 
and State, and two children were born to 
them. About 1818 they came to Wayne 
Coiinty, Ohio, and entered a tract of 164 
acres of land in Congress Township, 
where they passed the remainder of their 
days. They were members of the Lu- 
theran Church, and Mr. Aukerman was a 
prominent Democrat. He began life hum- 
bly, and died comparatively rich, having 
been successful in all his iindertakings, 
especially as a breeder of blooded horses. 
His family consisted of thirteen children, 
as follows: John, born January 20, 1816 ; 
Christina, born November 10,1817; Mary. 



born May 22, 1819; Christopher; Philip, 
born November 13, 1821; George, born 
May 16, 1823; Henry, born December 
25, 1821; William, born April U, 1826 
(now in Iowa) ; David, born January 20, 
1829; Jacob, born January 26, 1831; Na- 
I thaniel, born June 2, 1833; Adam, born 
I October 2, 1835; Ludwic, born February 
I 17, 1839 (in Congress Township, Wayne 
I County), all born in Congress Township, 
Wayne County, Ohio, except John and 
Christina, who were natives of Pennsyl- 
j vauia, and all are deceased except Chris- 
j topher, William and Ludwic. 
I The subject of this memoir was reared 
I on the homestead, and received a limited 
education at the schools of his locality. 
At the age of seventeen years he com- 
menced to learn carpentering, a trade he 
followed for three years. June 9, 1840, 
Mr. Aidierman married Miss Rebecca, 
daughter of John Clinker, a native of 
Columbiana County, Ohio, who became a 
settler of Congress Township, Wayne 
County; and after marriage the young 
couple located on their present home- 
stead. To them were born nine children, 
five of whom are living, as follows: Mary 
is the wife of Henry Dull, of Congress 
Township, Wayne County, and has three 
children, Franklin Enos G., Sarah Chris- 
tina and Christopher A.; Lewis E., in 
Congress Township, married Catherine, 
daughter of Joseph Bellinger, of Mor- 



WAVXE COUNTY. 



42"; 



row County, Ohio, and lias six children, 
Lydia J., Amanda A., Ada M., Susan E., 
Minnie B. and Joseph C. ; Martin L., in 
Congress Township, married Emma E., 
daughter of Ephraim Whitmore, of Con- 
gress Township, Wayne County, and has 
one child, Edith Y. ; Josiali C, also of 
Congress Township, married Apama C, 
daughter of John Barnard, of Canaan 
Township, Wayne County, and has two 
children, Christopher M. and Grace May ; 
and Rebecca J., living at home. 

Those deceased are an infant son, liorn 
May 7, 1841; George A., born February 
7, 1849, died at the age of six years, 
seven months and fifteen days; John and 
Christian (twins), the former of whom 
died on the l'2th and the latter on the 
14th of February, 1849. 

Mr. Aukermau is an ardent Democrat, 
has always taken an active part in poli- 
tics, and has filled various township 
ofiices. He and his family are members 
of the United Brethren Church, and are 
highly respected citizens of the county. 



AMUEL McQUIGG is a native of 
Ireland, born February 12. 1837, 
and was six years old when his 
parents came to tiiis country and located 
in Wayne County, Ohio. His life has 
been spent in this county, and since 



reaching manhood he has devoted his 
attention to the vocation of his father, 
and now has a good farm of 200 acres, 
situated two miles southeast of Wooster, 
on the Mount Eaton road. He has largely 
been the carver of his own fortunes, and 
is now enjoying the fruits of his many 
years of hardship and toil. He is a rep- 
i resentative of one of the well-known fam- 
I ilies of the count}-, and is iield in high 
! esteem by a large circle of friends and 
I acquaintances. He has always been pub- 
lic spirited and enterprising, and it has 
been his ambition to see his children oc- 
cupying responsible positions in life. In 
j this he is not likely to be disappointed, 
! as his son has already gained distinction 
in the law department of Cornell Univer- 
sity, and is completing his course in the 
National Law School at Washington, 
i D. C. Mr. McQuigg is a Republican in 
his political views, and while he is a 
stanch supporter of his party, is in no 
sense a politician. He is a member of 
the United Presbyterian Church, as was 
I also his wife. 

He was married, in 18G3, to Miss Jane 
McKinney, a native of Washington Coun- 
ty, Penn., whose parents, William and 
Jane (Ray) McKinney, came to Wayne 
County in her childliood. They lived in 
Plain Township after marriage until 1884, 
Avlien they sold their farm there and 
located on the farm where Mr. McQuigg 



428 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



uow lives. Mrs. McQuigg died Septem- 
ber 15, 1887, aged forty-uine years. To 
them were boru six cliildreu, viz. : Lizzie, 
died aged eigbteeu mouths; John R., at- 
torney at law ; Jennie, died aged nineteen 
years; Stelhi, Hinda and Willie are at 
home. Since the death of the mother 
the home has been presided over by the 
daughters, who are young ladies of cult- 
ure, occupying high social standing in the 
community. 



JR. JOHNSON, farmer, is a member 
of one of the representative families 
of Wayne County. His father, 
Henry Johnson, was a native of Wash- 
ington County, Penn., and in his boyhood 
went with his father to Stark County, 
Ohio, where he lived until eighteen years 
of age. He was married in that county 
to Catherine Gingry, a daughter of John 
Gingry, of Pennsylvania. In 1836 they 
came to Wayne County, and settled in 
the northeastern part of the county. 

J. R. Johnson was the eldest of a fam- 
ily of ten sons and three daughters. He 
was born in Stark County, Ohio, August 
7, 1833, and was but three years old when 
his parents moved to Wayne County. 
Being the eldest of a large family, his 
services were early required on the farm, 
and in his youth he acquired habits of 



industry that have been of lasting benefit 
to him. He has a pleasant home, his 
farm containing 106 acres of valuable 
land, and his improvements being among 
the best in the county. Mr. Johnson 
was married, in 1858, to Margaret Wink- 
ler, and to them were born two children: 
William C. and Effie (now Mrs. Sum- 
mers). The mother died, and the father 
afterward married Mai-tha O'Hail, of 
York County, Penn. They have had a 
family of seven children: Mary E., John 
W., Benjamin F., Charles Wesley (de- 
ceased), James L., Morris and Hugh 
Jacob. In politics Mr. Johnson affiliates 
with the Republican party. He is a 
member of the Presbvterian Church. 



DAXIEL HELLER, a well-known 
1 farmer of Wayne County, was born 
in Franklin County, Penn., De- 
cember 10, 1846. His father, Emanuel 
Heller, was a native of Lancaster County, 
in the same State, where he grew to man- 
hood, and where he was married to Miss 
Susan Dull, daughter of Daniel and Eliz- 
abeth (Smetzer) Dull, and a native of 
Pennsylvania. Mr. Heller ^vas a farmer, 
and in 1847 came to Wayne County, and 
after two years' residence in AVooster re- 
moved to the farm, some three miles 
southeast of Wooster, where he and his 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



■129 



wife spent the reraaiuder of their days. 
Mrs. Heller died on the 16th of June, 
1887, at the age of sixty-nine years, and 
Mr. Heller followed her to the grave 
March 15, 1888, aged seventy-two. They 
were the parents of nine children, six of 
whom are now living, four of them in 
Wayne County. They are as follows: 
Lydia, Mrs. Conrad Long, of Wooster; 
Daniel, the subject of this sketch; Sarah, 
living in Wooster Township; Amanda, 
Mrs. Edward Fitener, of Wooster Town- 
ship; James, living in Defiance, and Eliz- 
abeth, Mrs. Lewis Halterman, residing in 
Whitley County, Ind. Emanuel Heller's 
life was a busy one. He began life a 
poor boy, and achieved success by his own 
exertions. In politics he was a Democrat, 
and both he and his wife were members 
of the Baptist Church of Wooster. 

Daniel Heller remained at home with 
his parents until he was twenty-seven 
years old, receiving no wages. On the 
22d of April, 1875, he was married to 
Miss Nancy, daughter of Samuel and 
Annie (Messner) Waylan, and a native 
of Wayne County. Her parents are now 
living in Kansas. Four children have 
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Heller, as fol- 
lows: John and Laura, deceased; Will- 
iam and Elvin, living at home. The farm 
on which Mr. Heller lives is the old home- 
stead, which he had purchased since his 
father's death. In politics Mr. Heller is 



a Democrat. He is an Odd Fellow and a 
member of the Knights of Pythias. He 
has been successful in his worldly atfairs, 
a result due to his own industry, energy 
and perseverance. In the prime of a vig- 
orous manhood, he has won and retains 
tlie esteem and affection of a wide circle 
of acquaintances. His family has done 
much for the advancement of Wayne 
Count}-, materially, morally and socially, 
and they stand high in the estimation of 
all who know them. 



GHAELES McCOKMISH, druggist, 
Doylestown, Ohio, was born in 
-^ Armstrong County, Penn., August 
29, 1829, and is a son of William and Mar- 
gery (Carroll) McCormish, who in 18.35 
settled in Lawrence Townshij), Stark Co., 
Ohio, and engaged in farming; later re- 
moved to Summit County, same State, ami 
fiuallyto Chippewa Township, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, where they resided until their deaths. 
They were the parents of nine children, 
viz.: Kobert, Josiah, Mary E., Charles, 
Thomas, Jane, Harriet, Sarah and William. 
Our subject was reared principally in 
Ohio, and received a common-school edu- 
cation. At the age of thirteen years he 
left home, and subsequently engaged in 
various occupations. In 1854 he married 
Margaret J., daughter of George and 



Margaret (Carens) Bowersock, of Wayne 
County. After his marriage lie engaged 
in farming in Cliip|)ewa Township, at 
which he continued until 18(31, when 
through a fall he became a cripple, and 
removed to Doylestown, where he was 
employed as a stationary engineer in the 
machine shops of Cliue, Seiberling & Co. 
up to 1872. He then embarked in the 
drug business in Doylestown, in which he 
has since successfully continued, and is 
the proprietor of the leading drug store 
in the village. He is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, Odd Fellows order. 
Lodge and Encampment, Royal Arcanum 
and Knights of Pythias. He is an active 
worker in the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. Politically he is a stanch Re- 
publican, and has held the office of town- 
ship trustee two terms, being elected both 
times over his opponents by handsome 
majorities in a Democratic township. 



J\ILLIAM SHOEMAKER is a son 
of Simon and Elizabeth (Coe) 
Shoemaker, natives of Westmore- 
land County, Penn., and of German 
descent. In 1823 they came to Wayne 
County, Ohio, and first located on the 
Killbuck Bottoms, in Congress Township, 
Wayne County. After living there one 
year they purchased the eighty acres of 



land which are now included in the farm 
of our subject, and were entered hj Will- 
iam Shoemaker, the brother of Simon. 
They started in life poor, and engaged in 
clearing their settlement, etc. Mr. Shoe- 
maker's father was a soldier in the War of 
1812, and a prominent member of the 
German Reformed Church. He was acci- 
dentally killed at a "raising" in 1841. 
He was twice married, his first wife dying 
many years previous to his demise; his 
second wife was a Mrs. Farrah, who is 
also deceased. By his first wife Mr. 
Shoemaker reared eight children, all of 
whom are dead except three, viz. : Will- 
iam, the subject proper of this biography; 
George, in Seneca County, Ohio; and 
Mary, wife of John Reynolds, of Craw- 
ford County, Ohio. 

William Shoemaker, whose name heads 
this sketch, was born in Westmoreland 
County, Penn., January 12, 1820, and was 
three years of age when he came to 
Wayne County. His first schooling was 
received in a log school-house which was 
erected by his father and some neighbors, 
having for a teacher a German by the 
name of Hoss, who taught three months 
durine the winter. As soon as he was 
strong enough young Shoemaker was put 
to work on the farm, and remained at 
home until twenty years of age, when 
he served an apprenticeship of two years 
at the shoemaking business. December 




/W^ ^ A^'^^^^^tj^/^t^ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



433 



14, 1848, lie became united in marriage 
with Miss Margaret, daughter of Daniel 
Blocher, of Canaan Townsbij), Wayne 
County, purchased three acres of land, 
and erected a shoemaker's shop, where he 
worked at the business twelve years, dur- 
ing which time he purchased 160 acres of 
land. As his health would not permit 
lum to follow his trade longer, he moved 
to the farm, and has since purchased 144 
more acres, now owning over 300 acres in 
Canaan Township. He took an active 
part in clearing the township during the 
wai- of tlie Kebelliou. His wife died in 
1855, having borne him five children: 
Carrie, wife of David Frank, of Massil- 
lon, Ohio; Lee C, in Joliet, III., married 
to Mattie, daughter of Joseph Kirk, of 
Fulton, and has one child, Carrie M. ; 
John F., in Le Hoy, Oiiio, married to 
Mai-y J., daughter of John Chambers, of 
Seville, and has four children, Bertram, 
Clyde, Grace and Clarence ; Marion Brady, 
shoe dealer in Massillon, Ohio, married 
to Miss Ella Hawkins, of Akron, Ohio, 
and has one child, Lloyd; W. W., a 
farmer of Canaan Township, Wayne 
County, married to Clara, daughter of 
Jacob Yohey, of Greene Township, and 
has one child, Alice Mildred. 

Mr. Shoemaker was again married, on 
this occasion, in 1867, to Miss Carrie L., 
daughter of Joseph Clark Reynolds, of 
Summit County, Ohio, and by their union 



there are two children: Charles Reynolds 
and George Edwin. Mr. Shoemaker has 
served one term as justice of the peace of 
Canaan Township, and about 1866 he was 
elected one of the directors of the Ohio 
Insurance Company, in which capacity 
he served ten years, and then resigned. 
In his early life he voted with the Demo- 
cratic party. He voted for Franklin 
Pierce, and has since voted the Repub- 
lican ticket. He and his wife are promi- 
nent members of the Jackson Presbyte- 
rian Church, of which he is a trustee, 
and he has filled various township offices. 
Mr. Shoemaker is public spirited, and 
alwaj's forward in any enterprise he may 
deem of benefit to the public, and he is a 
living example of what may be accom- 
plished by energy, enterprise and perse- 
verance. 



ri( LEXANDER CAMPBELL, JR.. 

ILl'. was born in Washington County, 
JJ -^ Penn., near Monongahela City, on 
the !Hli day of June, 1815, the 
fifth of ten children of Alexander and 
Elizabeth (Brenuemau) Campbell, both 
natives of Pennsylvania, his father of 
Franklin County, and his mother of Lan- 
caster County. Prior to his birth his 
parents moved to Washington County, 
Penn., where his father engaged in farm- 



434 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



ing for a time, and for tliirty-five years 
was in the botel business. He died iu 
that county, in the seventy-second year 
of his age. 

Alexander Campbell, Jr., remained with 
his parents in Washington County till 
twenty-six years of age, and in 1841 
came to Ohio, and became identified with 
Wayne County. He first obtained em- 
ployment with an uncle on a farm, and 
then for a time worked iu a mill. He 
made his first purchase of laud in 1868, 
buying eighty acres of land in Waj'ue 
Township, iu the couuty of Wayne. 
This he has improved, and, by persever- 
ance, economy and good management, he 
now has a comfortable property, and is 
surrounded by all that is necessary to 
make life a blessing. He was married 
September 1, 1843, to Sarah Fritzinger, 
daughter of George and Catherine (Neth- 
roe) Fritzinger, her father a native of 
Germany, and her mother a native of 
Pennsylvania, and early settlers of Wayne 
County. Mrs. Campbell was born in Chip- 
pewa Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, on 
the 21st day of June, 1843. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Campbell have been born ten chil- 
dren: Harvey B., Julian, Alexander, 
John W., Amanda, James B., George W., 
Hugh M., Effie F. and Franklin. John 
W., Amanda and James B. are deceased. 
Mr. Campbell is one of the representa- 
tive citizens of his township, and has 



always taken an active interest in all [)ub- 
lic improvements. He is a stanch Dem- 
ocrat, of the Jacksonian type, and was an 
earnest supporter of Grover Cleveland. 



EOEGE CASKET, farmer, is a rep- 
resentative of one of the oldest 
families in the county. His grand- 
father, Samuel Caskey,was a native 
of Ireland, was there married, and had a 
son, John, born to him there. On his ar- 
rival in this country he settled near the 
present town of Wooster, Ohio, where he 
remained a short time. He was a farmer 
by occupation, and was one of the pioneers 
of Wayne County, who helped to fell its 
forests and prepare the wild land for cul- 
tivation. He had a family of nine chil- 
dren, eight sons and one daughter, who 
grew to maturity, viz.: John, Andrew, 
Benjamin, James, Kobert, George, Lesly, 
Thomas and Martha, the last three being 
triplets, and, when full grown, weighing 
the sum of 700 pounds. His son John, 
being the eldest of the family, a boy of 
twelve summers upon his arrival from his 
native land, was early inured to the hard- 
ships of pioneer life, his principal amuse- 
ment being to help clear away the under- 
brush, and in other ways assist his father. 
He continued to devote his attention to 
farming after reaching man's estate, and 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



435 



f>iitered eighty acres of laud May 1, 1823, 
five and one-half miles north of Woostev, 
wliere his son George now lives, living on 
the same until he reached the age of 
eighty-six years, three mouths, three days, 
when he died. There was but one house 
between his place and Wooster, which 
then consisted of ouly three houses. He 
located in the midst of a dense forest, 
where he could hear and see ouly wolves, 
bears and Indians. He cleared a spot for 
corn, and traded corn for venison with the 
Indians, a number of whom camped at a 
spring on the farm. He lived in those 
times when a bushel of wheat would not 
be an even exchange for a pound of coffee, 
and had to go fifty miles on horseback for 
a little salt, by a trail through the woods. 
He helped cut the road all the way from 
his farm to Wooster, and many were the 
nights that he and his wife burned logs 
and brush till 2 o'clock iu the morning. 
He married Ann, daughter of Alexan- 
der McBride, of Westmoreland County, 
Peun., and formerly of Ireland. Nine 
children were born to them, but two of 
whom are now living, viz. : Hannah, now 
Mrs. Richardson, and Geoi'ge. George 
Caskey was born on the old homestead 
where he now resides, July 12, 1827. 
Having passed his life on the farm, he can 
now view witli pride the many improve- 
ments that liave been made, having been 
one of the most active in materiallv assist- 



ing in its development. His farm con- 
tains 172 acres of good land, all under 
cultivation. He was married, in 1852, to 
Catharine, daughter of Henry and Anua 
(Seaborn) Burkholder, of Franklin Coun- 
ty, Penn., who came to Ohio iu an early 
day. They have had five children, four 
of whom are living: Mary Ellen, the 
eldest, died at the age of fifteen months; 
Martin V. married Flora E. Hnyder, and 
resides at home; July Ann, now Mrs. 
Zook; Ida E., now Mrs. George A. Fike, 
and Mary J., now Mrs. Gaul. In politics 
Mr. Caskev is a Democrat. 



P^ETER SHERRICK, retired farmer, 
was born iu Westmoreland County, 
Penn., in 1817, and has since 1882 
been prominently identified in a busi- 
ness way with Wayne County. No citi- 
zen of Wayne Township has been more 
successful in business than has Mr. Sher- 
I rick, and it is an honor to the county that 
such men as he leave their homes in other 
parts of the country and take up their 
abode here. His father, Joseph Sherriek, 
was a native of Lancaster Countv, Penn.. 
] and there married Barbara Beidler. 
Peter was the fourth of their eight chil- 
dren. The family is of German ancestry, 
j it being one of the first to settle in Amer- 
i ica. About 1810 or 1S12 Joseph Sher- 



436 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



rick left his native county and settled in 
Westmoreland County, where he bought 
150 acres of land, which he improved, sub- 
sequently adding to his first purchase until 
he had 275 acres. He was a hard-work- 
ing, upright man, and was honored by all 
who knew him. 

Peter Sherrick, the subject of our 
sketch, has spent the greater part of his 
life in his native county. His education 
«as obtained in the old log school -house 
of primitive days, and like his father he 
has devoted the greater part of his time 
to farming. He lived in the old home- 
stead of his father until coming to Wayne 
County, and from 1872 to 1880 was very 
extensively engaged in the coke business, 
which in that section of Pennsylvania is 
very profitable. In this Mr. Sherrick 
was assisted by his sons-in-law, and to- 
gether they made of it a financial success. 

Mr. Sherrick was married, in 1842, to 
Leah Heinard, whose parents were highly 
respected and well-to-do people of Penn- 
sylvania. To them were boi'u three chil- 
dren, but two of whom are living: Bar- 
bara, wife of Daniel S. Tinstman, and 
Maria, wife of William P. White. Their 
only son, David, died at the age of thirty 
years. Mr. Sherrick now owns a fine 
farm of 260 acres, all of which is very 
fertile, and his improvements are among the 
best in the county. His sons-in-law, both 
highly respected men, have charge of the 



work of the farm. Both are practical 
farmers, and industrious, and success 
crowns their efforts. Mr. and Mrs. Sher- 
rick are members of the English Reformed 
Church ; in polities he is a Republican. 



BENJAMIN WILSON was born in 
Franklin County, Penn., January 
28, 1825. His grandfather, John 
Wilson, was a native of Ireland, as was 
also his father, James Wilson, who was 
born in 17H2, and who at the age of eight 
years came to America with his parents. 
The family made their home in Cumber- 
land County, Penn., where both grand- 
parents died. James Wilson learned the 
trade of a wheelwright, and carried on the 
furniture business also, in Concord, Frank- 
lin County, making wheels, bedsteads 
and chairs, and was also an undertaker. 
He was married to Mary Ann, daughter 
of James Wallace, and a native of Ire- 
land. Her parents came to America in 
1812, and died in Juniata County, Penn. 
After their marriage James and Marv Ann 
Wilson remained in Pennsylvania until 
1833, when the mother died, at the age of 
thirty-eight. She was the mother of 
eight children, seven boys and one girl, 
of whom five are still living, Benjamin 
being the only one in Wayne County. 
Mr. Wilson, previous to his marriage 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



437 



with Mary Ann Wallace, was married to 
Mary Rhea, who bore him ouechikl, John, 
who liveil and died in Wooster. After 
the death of his second wife Mr. Wilson 
married Mrs. Devor, who bore him five 
children, and died in 18(52. Two of these 
five I'hildreu are now living: Mrs. Sarah 
Anderson, of Orrville, and Samuel H., of 
Findlay, Ohio. James Wilson died in 
l>>r)'.», aged seventy-seven years. In poli- 
tics he was a Democrat. He served for 
years as a postmaster in Concord, Penn. 
He was a strong Presbyterian. Of bis 
family three sons are physicians, one a 
minister (United Presbyterian) in Ne- 
braska. One son, AVilliam, was State 
Senator in Iowa, elected as a Democrat. 
Benjamin was the only farmer. 

When Benjamin AVilson was eleven 
years of age his uncle, Benjamin Wallace, 
induced him to come to Wayne County, 
where he arrived in December, 1835. The 
country was yet comparatively new and 
rough. Young Wilson's life was like that 
of farm boys generally, and he made his 
home with his uncle until he was twentj' 
vears of age. He married Miss Mariraret 
McCoy, daughter of Alexander and Eliza- 
beth (Black) McCoy, who was a native 
of Juanita County, Penn., and was taken 
to Wayne County when an infant. She 
lived until 1852, when she died, used 
twenty-seven years, leaving two children, 
James W., living in Plain Township, 



and Alexander I., M. D., of Colorado. 
Mr. Wilson afterward married Mary S. 
Alexander, a native of Juniata County, 
Penn., who died in June, 1809, leaviu" 
one child, Margaret Alice, now Mrs. S. P. 
Gill, of Orrville. In 1871 Mr. Wilson 
was married to Miss Isabella Rose, daugh- 
ter of James Rose, of whom a biograph- 
ical sketch appears below. Miss Rose 
inherited from her father her sympathy 
for the poor and oppressed. In 1803 
she went to Memphis to teach the freed- 
meu. She was there for three years, and 
then went to Washington, Iowa, where 
she remained until her marriage, in 1871. 
By this marriage one daughter was born, 
Florence Rose, now at home. Mr. Wil- 
son for a number of years made his home 
near Mechanicsburg, and in 1853 came to 
his present place, where he has made all 
the improvements, and cleared the greater 
part of the farm. The home is one of the 
finest in the township. Both he and liis 
wife are members of the United Presby- 
terian Church of Wooster, and the family 
is recognized as one of the most progress- 
ive in the county, well deserving the re- 
spect and esteem of all who know them. 
Mr. Wilson began life a poor boy, and has 
won success by his own exertions. 

Mrs. Wilson's mother was Martha Boj-d, 
who came from Ireland with her father 
wlien she was sixteen years old, and set- 
tled in Columbiana Countv. where she 



438 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



remained until her marriage. She was a 
woman of good mind, a great reader, and 
a stanch Abolitionist, as was her husband. 
She was also a strong temperance woman. 

James Rose, who was the father of 
Mrs. Benjamin Wilson, was born in Scot- 
land, in 1784. Charles Rose, his father, 
was a Highlander, and came to America 
in 1804, settling near Wellsville, Colum- 
biana Co., Ohio, where both he and his 
wife died. James Rose was twenty years 
of age when he came with his parents to 
this country, and for a time he worked in 
Baltimore. 

About 1810 he immigrated to Wayne 
County with his brothei', John, and 
entered what is now known as the Jones 
farm, about two miles west oi Wooster, 
living there one year. They then disposed 
of the farm in Wooster Township, and 
went to Wayne Township, where their 
father had entered a farm, but, it being 
in the time of the war with England, and 
Indian troubles seeming imminent, they 
both (John Rose and his brother, James) 
moved to the block-house in Wooster, and 
there remained for one year. James, 
having in the meantime married, returned 
with his wife to Wayne County, and set- 
tled on tliis farm in Wayne Township, on 
which they erected a little cabin, the door 
of which was only a suspended quilt, 
which served but poorly to keep out the 
wolves, which at night howled around the 



house. Their father the next year dis- 
posed of this farm, and John then en- 
tered a farm one mile south, in Wayne 
Township, and James entered one in Ca- 
naan Township, near Golden Corners, 
which is now owued by Calvin Armstrong. 
In 1852 they disposed of this farm, and 
came to Wooster, where they remained one 
summer, when they removed to Hayes- 
ville, where Mi-. Rose had purchased a 
farm. Here, in the fall of 1858, the 
wife and mother died, aged sixty-six 
years. She was the motlier of eleven 
children, Mrs. Benjamin Wilson being 
the only one now residing in Wayne Coun- 
ty. The names of the children are as 
follows: Charles, who went to Northern 
Illinois, and is now dead; Nancy, who 
died at eigliteen ; Robert, in Texas ; Cath- 
erine, Mrs. Isaac Van Nostran, in Kansas ; 
Margery, deceased; John, in California; 
Mary Jane, who died at the age of eight- 
een; Isabella, Mrs. Benjamin Wilson: 
Hannah Martha, died at the age of one 
year; Martha, died in 1878, at Oskaloosa, 
Iowa; Sarah F., Mrs. Josiah Lowes, of 
Omaha, Neb. 

In 1863 Mr. Rose sold his farm, ami 
removed to AVashington, Iowa, where he 
passed the remainder of his days, and 
where he died, March 30, 1873, at the 
age of eighty-nine and one-fourth years. 
In politics Mr. Rose was lirst a Jackson 
Democrat, but afterward became a Whig, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



439 



aud iu li>40 voted for Geu. Harrisou. 

I 

When the slavery question began to be 
agitated Mr. Rose took a firm stand iu 
favor of the oppressed negro, and cast the 
fiist aud only abolition vote in Canaan 
Towusiiip. He was laughed at by his 
neighbors, who told him that he was 
throwing away his vote, to which he re- 
])lied: " Mine will live, while yours will 
rot." His home became a " station " on 
the •' underground railroad," aud many 
were the poor fugitives whom he helped 
on the way to Canada and freedom. On 
one occasion he had as a " passenger " a 
poor slave who had lost both feet by 
freezing, and was walking on his knees. 
Mr. Rose bad formerly helped the man's 
family on their waj', as he did this crip- 
pled sufferer. Mr. Rose was a stanch 
member of the Presbyterian Church. 



JACOB KRAMER, JR., a worthy cit- 
izen of Wayne County, was born in 
that county June 30, 1852. His 
father, Jacob Kramer, Sr., was a native 
of Dauphin County, Penn., where he was 
born iu 1811. The senior Mr. Kramer 
w.is married, in 183-1, to Miss Mary Auu 
Miller, daughter of David and Elizalieth 
( Waldrou ) Miller, and a native of 
Dauphin County. Mrs. Kramer's father 
was a major iu the War of 1812. Mr. 



Kramer was a miller by occupation. He 
remained iu Pennsylvania some three 
years after his marriage, and in 1837 
came to Wayne County, making a home 
north of Wooster, where a mill then 
stood, which he managed for three years. 
From here he removed to Plank's Mill, 
east of AVooster, and a year aud a half 
later to the place where the Naftzger Mill 
now stands. In 18G0 he settled at the 
mill near which the family now reside. 
Some time later, selling the mill, he built 
a house at the present family residence, 
w-here, on the 10th of December, 1883, 
he died, at the age of uearly seventy- 
three years. Mr. Kramer was a man of 
active life, and contributed much toward 
the development and growth of his coun- 
ty. He was a self-made man, beginning 
life a poor boy, and winning success by 
las own exertions. Iu politics he was a 
Democrat. At the time of the war he 
was a township trustee, and for six years 
was a director of the Wayne County In- 
firmary. He was a member of the Knights 
of Pythias. 

Since the death of her husband Mrs. 
Kramer has resided upon the home farm 
with her son. On the 2(ltli of June, 
1888, Mrs. Kramer met with a serious 
accident, falling and breaking her leg. 
She has been the mother of twelve chihlron, 
as follows: Harriet, Mrs. James Riser, of 
Denver, Colo.; David, killed in the war; 



440 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Sarah, Mrs. S. R. Hughes, of Missouri; 
Henry, residing in California; Franklin, 
at Springfield, 111. ; John, in Savannah, 
Andrew Co., Mo.; George W., in Paw- 
nee, Neb. ; Willis, in Oregon ; Jacob, 
at home; Joseph and Peter, at Virden, 
111. ; Annie, Mrs. James Lytle, of Denver, 
Colo. 

Jacob Kramer, Jr., with a rare filial 
devotion, remains on the home farm with 
his mother, who, at the age of seventy- 
five, calmly awaits the summons to another 
life. In politics Mr. Kramer is a Dem- 
ocrat, but devotes his time to his chosen 
calling, in which he is very successful. The 
Kramer family is widely known in Wayne 
County, and all its members are highly 
respected. They deserve the grateful 
remembrance of all for the active and 
prominent part they have taken in the 
development of the county. 



1 ll jILLIAM P. WHITE, farmer, 
V//\y/ ^'^^yi^® Township, was born in 
-^ -* Fayette County, Penn., June 19, 
1845, the eldest of six children of Silas 
and Matilda (Stewart) White. The fam- 
ily are from the Eastern States, and, ac- 
cording to tradition, are of Puritan blood. 
About 1818 Thomas Wliite, the father of 
Silas, with his wife and children, left 
Plymouth County, Mass., for the West, 



his objective point being Cincinnati, Ohio, 
but, on account of some members of the 
family having taken the smallpox on their 
trip over the mountains, they were obliged 
to stop at Connellsville, Fayette Co., 
Penn., where the family remained, he 
having died in December, 1823, aged fif- 
ty-one years, and his widow in December, 
1839, aged sixty-five years. (Her maiden 
name was Hulda Guerney). Some time 
after tlie death of his father Silas and his 
brother engaged in the manufacture of 
woolen goods at Broad Ford, Penn., in 
which business they continued for some 
years. About the year 1842 he engaged in 
the manufacture of what is now known as 
the famous Connellsville coke, afterward 
engaging in different kinds of business. 
Having taken a severe cold in the winter 
of 1858-59, he died of consumption April 
17, 1859, aged fifty-three years. His 
widow died May 20, 1864, having had ty- 
phoid fever, but when recovering from it 
took a severe cold, and died of consumption. 
William P. White received a common- 
school education, but later attended For- 
sythe's Commercial School. Upon leav- 
ing school he engaged in various occupa- 
tions, among which were the following: 
distillery, pottery, saw-mill, mercantile 
business, time-keeper, pay-master, book- 
keeper, superintendent and coal and coke 
shipper. In 1880 he came to Wayne 
County, and since then has been engaged 



IVAYXE COUNTY 



441 



in farming. He is a genial, pleasant man, 
mill lias made many friends in the county. 
He was married in 1S77 to Maria Sher- 
rick, daughter of Peter and Leah (Hein- 
ard) Sherrick. They have four children: 
P. S., M. S., D. P. Mild H. H. Mr. White 
is a Eepublican. He and his wife are 
members of the Euelish Lutheran Clmrch. 



JOSEPH B. Mcdonald, farmer, 
AVayne Township, was born in Juni- 
-- ata County, Penn., in August, 1841, 
a son of Joseph and Nancy (Harris) Mc- 
Donald. His fatiier was by trade a mill- 
er, and in connection witli his trade was 
also engaged in farming several years 
prior tohisdeatli. which occurred in 1870, 
when he was aged sixty years. Of a fam- 
ily of seven children. Joseph B. and A. P., 
of Nebraska, are the only ones living. 

Joseph B. McDonald spent his early 
life on his father's farm in Juniata Coun- 
ty, where he received fair educational 
advantages. He remained at home until 
after the breaking out of the War of the 
Rebellion, when, in 1802, he enlisted in 
defense of his country, and was assigned 
to Company A, First Pennsylvania Re- 
serve Cavalry, and served three years and 
two months. He participated in the most 
important battles of the Army of tlie 
Potomac, proiiiiiu'Mt Minong tiiem l)eing 



those of Bull Run, Cold Harbor, the 
Wilderness and Gettysburg]!. After the 
war closed he returned to his native coun- 
ty, where he remained a year, when he 
went to Illinois, an<l in 18<>G located in 
AVooster, Ohio, and lias since made AVayne 
County his iionie. In 1884 he Ixiugiit 
the farm where he now lives, which was 
formerly the Wasson property. It con- 
tains 159 acres of valuable land, all under 
cultivation, with modern building im- 
provements. Mr. McDonald is a self- 

'•• made man, having battled througli the 
rugged pathway Oi life and been reason- 
ably succcessful. 

He was married in Wooster to Anna 
K. Black, daughter of James and Eliza- 

t betli (Shaver) Black. To them have 
been born eleven children, but ten of 
whom are living: Laura E., Blanche, 
Mary, Gary A., James H., Pearl A., Effie, 
Ella, Mettie and Grace. Their second 
son died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Mc- 
Donald are members of the Presbyterian 
Church. He is an active member of tlie 
Grand Army of the Republic. In jioli- 
tics he is a Republican. 



JOSEPH AVAGNER, a long timeresi- 
dent of AA^ayne county, was born in 
Lewistown, Mifflin County, Penn., 
' February 18, 1832. His fMth.'r. (ie..rge 



442 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Wagner, was a farmer by occupation, and 
upon reaching manhoocl was married to 
Susan Shook, daughter of John Shook, 
and a native of Pennsylvania. Her fam- 
ily, on both sides, were of German descent. 
Joseph Wagner's parents never came to 
Ohio. His mother died in 1841, at the 
age of forty. She was the mother of nine 
children, three of whom are now living, 
two in Pennsylvania, near where they 
were born, and Joseph in Wayne County. 
Cxeorge Wagner died in 185G, aged seven- 
ty-three. He was a Democrat in politics. 
Joseph Wagner was nine years of age 
when his mother died, and he soon had to 
look out for himself. In 1859 he started 
for Pike's Peak, seeking gold, and was 
for five years in Minnesota and eight 
years in California. In 1867 he returned 
to Wooster, and in 1809 was married to 
Miss Elizabeth Albright, daughter of 
Jacob and Elizabeth (Moor) Albright, 
and a native of Wooster City. Her par- 
ents came to Wayne County about 1828. 
Mr. Albright was a gunsmith, and lived 
on the lot where the depot now stands. 
Later he moved to a farm, and afterward 
returned to the city, and for a time kept 
a tavern, later engaging in the grocery 
business. In 1857 he left the city and 
made his home on his farm, one mile 
south of the city, where he spent the re- 
mainder of his life. In December, 1876, 
Mrs. Albright died, aged seventy-tliree 



years. She was the mother of eight chil- 
dren, five of whom are now living. Two 
of them died in infancy, and the names 
of the others are Mrs. Mary A. Thomp- 
son, O. M. and Elizabeth (Mrs. James 
Wagner), living in Wayne County; Mrs. 
John Eeamer, who died at the age of 
thirty-five; Noah, living in Chicago; 
Andrew, in Wayne County. Mr. Al- 
bright died on the 9th of June, 1884, 
aged eighty-one years. He was a self- 
made man, beginning life a poor boy, and 
by his own industry won success in life. 
His first tax was 830. He was a stanch 
Democrat, but was not an aspirant for 
office. His daughter, Mary A., was mar- 
ried to J. H. Thompson in 1853, and for 
eighteen years lived in Kansas, but for 
the last four years her home has been in 
Wayne County. Her children were 
Mary Ellen, who married Horace Hicken- 
looper. and died at the age of twenty - 

i eight ; Elzie Wynoma ; Annie, Mrs. Frank 
Johnson, of Kansas; Abner Q. and Jacob 
J. (twins), former in Washington Ter- 

I ritory, latter in Kansas; Frank, in Kansas 
City, Mo.; Sarah F., in Iowa; Gussie, in 
Maysville. 

Since his marriage Mr. Wagner has 
made his home on the farm where he now 
resides, except for about three years. In 
1881 he engaged in the milk business, and 
is probably the most extensive dealer in 
the city. But one ohikl has been born to 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



443 



Mr. and Mrs. Wagner, by name Florence 
Sailie. born June 2, 1877, now receiving 
her education. Mr. Wagner is a stanch 
Republican, and both he and his wife are 
members of the English Lutheran Church. 
He lias been successful in life, a result 
due to his own exertions. He stands de- 
servedly high in the estimation of the en- 
tire community, as a citizen, business 
man and neighbor, and is looked upon as 
one of the most substantial and reliable 
residents. 



JOHN ELLIOTT, a prominent farmer 
j of Wayne Township, is of Irish de- 
~^ scent, bis grandfather coming from 
that country to America in an early day, 
and locating in the State of Pennsylvania. 
William Elliott, a son of this pioneer, 
was born in Pennsylvania in 1780, and 
was there married to Elizabeth Hays, who 
was born in 1792. The}- had a family of 
eight children, three sons and five daugh- 
ters. In the fall of 1827 they immi- 
grated to Ohio, and for a shoi't time lived 
in the town of Wooster. In the spring of 
1828 Mr. Elliott bought IfiO acres of land 
in Wayne Township, of Cyrus Spink, for 
S800. He was a hard-working lUiin. and 
brought this farm to become one of the 
best in tlie township, making it his home 
until 18iJo. His widow died in IS.'jO. 



John Elliott is the sixth in order of 
birth and the youngest son in the family 
of William and Elizabeth (Hays) Elliott. 
He was born on the homestead in Wayne 
Township, which has always been his 
home, seventy-seven of the eighty acres 
now owned by him being part of the orig- 
inal tract. He was married August 4, 
1859, to Elizabeth J. Coiidry, daughter of 
William and Deborah (Frazier) Condry. 
They have a family of four sons: William, 
born in 1861; Charles, Ijorii in 1803; Zeno 
H., born in 18(55, and John Grant, born 
in 1868. Mr. Elliott is one of the most 
prominent citizens of Wayne County, the 
birthplace of many worthy sons of the 
sturdy pioneers wlio laid the foundation of 
the future greatness of this county, one 
of the best in the State of Ohio. 



PHILIP MAllKLEY, county sur- 
veyor of Wayne County, Ohio, was 
born in Monroe County, Ohio, 
April 14, 1856. His paternal great- 
grandparents, who were of German extrac- 
tion, late in life removed from Somerset 
County, Penn., to Ashland County, Ohio, 
beinjr amonij the earliest settlers in that 
region. They wei"e the parents of twelve 
sons, of whom Moses, grandfather of our 
subject, was next to the youngest. He 
too was a farmer, was married, and became 



441 



Tr.4F.Vi; COUNTY. 



the father of eight children, his son. Joliu 
M., being the father of Philip. John M. 
Markley was Ijorn in Harrison County, 
Ohio, and grew to manhood in Monroe 
County, to which place his parents had 
removed. In that county he was married 
to Hannah, daughter of William Dough- 
erty. Her parents were natives of Ire- 
land, and came to America in their child- 
hood. Our subject's parents had eight 
children: Philip; William, in Kansas; 
Cornelius, in Chicago; Sarah Ann, wife of 
Jacob Walter, in Kansas; John, also in 
Kansas, and Mathias, Melissa C. and Mary 
Jane, at home. The parents came to 
Wayne County with their children in 
18G7, and five yeai-s later, in 1872, the 
father was called to his last home, at the 
comparatively early age of forty-one years ; 
the motlier is now liviucr uear Orrville, 

o 

this county. ' 

The subject of these lines was eleven 
years old when he was brought to this 
couuty. Here he attended the district 
schools, and later the academy at Smith- 
ville. He early devoted himself to work, 
and after his father's untimely death did 
much toward the support of the family. 
For five years he worked for Cyrus W'al- 

ter. in Greene Township, attending school 

i 
iu winter. At the age of twenty -two he 

bi'gan teaching school, an occupation he 

continued in eight years. Four years of 

that time he tauglit in Burton Citv, this 



county. In 1886 Mr. Markley received 
the nomination for couuty surveyor, and 
was elected by a large majority. While 
living in Greene Township he was for two 
years township clerk, a fact which attests 
his popularity, the towu being Republican 
while Mr. Markley is a stanch Democrat. 
He is still quite a young man, and possess- 
ing as he does the unlimited confidence 
of those who know him, and wielding an 
extensive influence in the councils of his 
party, he undoubtedly has a bright future 
before him. 



LEWIS P. OHLIGER, postmaster at 
Wooster, Ohio, was born in Bavaria. 

' Germany, January 3, 1843, and 

came with his mother to this country in 
1854, locating in Canton, Ohio. Here he 
became a clerk iu what is known as the 
" Witting Drug Store." In 1857 he came 
to Wooster, Ohio, where he secured a sim- 
ilar i)osition in the drug store of John 
Zimmerman, in which capacit}" he con- 
tinued until 18'i8, when he became a 
partner with his employer, the firm name 
becoming J. Zimmerman ct Co., which still 
exists. 

In 1875 Mr. Ohliger was elected county 
treasurer, and re-elected in 1877, holding 
the position for four years; was also a 
member of the city council from ISSl to 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



4irj 



1885, (luring three years of which he was 
presiileut of the council. In November, 
1885, lie was appointed postmaster at 
Wooster. Mr. Ohliger is a strong Dem- 
ocrat, aud has serveil as chairman of the 
countv committee for ten years. He is a 
Knight Templar, a member of the Shrine 
Al Koran Temple, Cleveland, Ohio, 
Knights of Pythias, Improved Order of 
Red Men and Eoyal Arcanum organiza- 
tions. 

On March !>, 18fi5, he was married to 
Emma T.. daughter of Jonathan and Mar- 
tha (Yocura) McClure, and a native of 
Wooster, Ohio. To this union four chil- 
dren have been born : Mattie F., deceased; 
Charles E., in Wooster; Lewis W., de- 
ceased, aud AVillard, at home. Mr. Ohli- 
ger is widely known, and respected by 
everybody. In his official position ho 
knows neither sect nor party, and dis- 
charges the duties of his office in a man- 
ner satisfactory and pleasing to all. 



SU. BUCHER, farmer, is a native 
of AVayne County, Ohio, born in 
— Chester Townshij) in 1843. Henry 
Rucher, the first of the family to settle in 
this county, was a native of Centre 
County, Penn., and in 1824 packed his 
worldly goods and his family into a big 
wagon, and started for Ohio. He located 



in Wayne Township, then a dense forest, 
making his wagon his dwelling-house un- 
til he could build a log cabin. He entered 
a i|uaiter section of land, which is now 
owned by Mr. Booholtz, which he cleared 
and improved. He married Catherine 
Rinehart, and to them were born five sons 
and one daughter. Andrew, one of the 
youngest of the family, was born in Cen- 
tre County, Penn., and was a child when 
his [)avents came to Ohio. He was liy 
trade a shoemaker, working at same many 
years, aud later he engaged in farming, 
at the time of his death owning ninety- 
three and a half acres of good land. He 
married Elizabeth Coy, aud to them were 
born three sons: John, deceased; Jacob 
C, a physician, now of Chicago, 111., and 
S. D. Mr. Bucher died in ISO'.I, aged 
fifty-seven years, his wife surviving him 
I at the advanced age of seventy-five. 

S. D. Bucher was reared and educ.iti-d 

in his native county, and since reaching 

I manhood has devoted his attention to 

farming. He has been successful as an 

agriculturist, and now owns a good farm 

in AVayne Township. He is a progressive, 

public-spirited man, always giving his 

I assistance to any enterprise that is of bene- 

I fit to the county. He is popular with his 

: fellow-townsmen, and has been elected by 

them to the offices of town.ship trustee 

and school director. In politics he is a 

stanch supporter of Democratic princi[)les. 



44(3 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



He was married, in 1860, to Emeline 
Young, daughter of John Young. They 
have had a family- of five children, four 
of whom are living: Harvey A., Andrew 
W., Lizzie Pearl and Mary Ellen. 



CHRISTIAN B. BEENNEMAN, 
one of tlie best known of the 
— ' farmers of Greene Township, 
Wayne County, resides on Section 5, and 
his postoffice address is Smithville. He 
is of German birth, and in 1825, more 
than sixty-three years ago, came to Amer- 
ica with his parents, Daniel and Mary 
(Bender) Brenneman, who emigrated 
from their native province, Hesse-Darm- 
stadt, in the year above named, locating 
first in Somerset County, Penn., and three 
years later making a permanent settle- 
ment in what was then a part of Allegany 
County, but is now Garrett County, Md. 
In the woods there Daniel Brenneman 
bought 100 acres, and with sturdy energy 
and pluck proceeded to make of it a farm. 
Long before his death he had it cleared 
and developed, and provided well for his 
family. He was born in 1770, and died 
May It), 1S42, in his seventy-third year. 
He was married in his native place, Feb- 
ruary 20, 1803, to Mary Bender, who sur- 
vived him about fourteen years. Mr. 
Brenneman was of a quiet, retiring dis- 



position, a good friend and neighbor, who 
had the respect of those who knew him. 
He was a member of the Amish Mennou- 
ite Church from his youth. He and his 
wife, Mary, were the parents of eleven 
children : Jacob, borii July 27, 1805, died 
December 16, 1806; Jacob, born Decem- 
ber 28, 1806, became a minister of the 
Amish Mejanonite Chui'ch, and died in 
Maryland, April 14, 1880 (he had a 
family of fifteen children — John, Sam- 
uel, Joel, Jacob, Christian, Daniel, Peter, 
Eli, Anna. Catherine, and five who died 
in childhood); Mary, born March 19, 
1809, is the wife of Benedict Beechy, of 
Maryland, and has had three children — 
Paul, Jacob and Emanuel ; Anna, born 
July 27, 1811, and died February 22, 
184(1, was the first wife of Daniel Yutzy, 
and had five children — Enoch, Samuel, 
Joel, Mary and Catherine ; Catherine, born 
April 5, 1813, and died February 18. 
1870, was the wife of Joel Miller, who 
owned a farm on the line, partly in Penn- 
sylvania and partly in Maryland, and had 
a family of nine children — Daniel, Joel. 
Eli, Samuel, Christian. Mary, Catherine, 
Elizabeth and Anna; John, born March 
22, 1815, died July 12, 1816; Elizabeth, 
born November 15, 1816, is the wife of 
Thomas Lee, of Somerset County, Penn., 
and has five children — Daniel, Joel, Chris- 
tian, John and Mary; Magdalena, born 
April 21, 1819, died December 22, 1863 



M'AVXE COUNTY. 



AV 



(she was the second wife of Daniel 
Yutzy. and had six children — Jereniiaii, 
Joseph, Simon, Barbara, Elizabeth and 
Lydin) ; Christian B., born June 2i, 1821; 
Daniel, born Jnly 8, 1824, is now living in 
Garrett County, Md., and is the father of 
nine children — Joel, Simon (of Sn)ith- 
ville), Samuel. Catherine, Elizalieth, 
Anna, Harriet, Leah and Mar^-; Barbara, 
born April o, 1827, is the widow of Jo- 
seph Swartzendiuves, of Johnson County, 
Iowa, and has had eleven children — Jacob, 
Joel, Daniel, George, Noah, Gideon, Jo- 
seph, Solomon, Elizabeth, Mary and Anna. 
Christian B. Brennemau, the subject of 
this sketch, was, like his parents, born in 
Hesse-Darmstadt. He was brought up 
to farming, and worked for liis father 
until he was nineteen years old, when he 
was given his freedom. For six or seven 
years he laljored diligently at whatever he 
found to do, mostly at chopping wood and 
clearing land for others, saving carefully 
his earnings to buy his future home. The 
year 1844 he spent in Canada with his 
uncles, and following spring came to 
Wayne County, staying here but a year, 
when he revisited Canada, and in the 
spring returned to Wayne County, where 
to make a permanent home. Here, also, 
he worked out until his marriage, and in 
the spring of 184!> bought the farm which 
has ever since been his home. It com- 
prises 128 acres, but he had also several 



other pieces of land near by, which he has 
since sold. On this place lie put up a fine 
brick house, in which he has lived for 
many years, and until lie retired from act- 
ive labor in 1881, when he erected a neat 
frame residence adjoining, into which he 
moved, giving up the family home to his 
son, Daniel, who has carried on the farm 
ever since. October o, 1848, Mr. Brenne- 
mau was mairied to Hannah Plank, born 
May 1, 1829, daughter of Jephtha Plank. 
whose history is given elsewhere in this 
work, under the name of his son, S. K. 
Plank. Mr. and Mrs. Brenneman are the 
parents of four children, as follows: Dan- 
iel, born July 19, 1850, married to Eliza- 
beth Forrer, and farms the home ])lace; 
Mary, liorn March 1, l8o5, married to 
John Klopfenstein; Lydia, born January 
23, 1859, is the widow of Daniel Coonrad, 
and is living with her parents; and Annie, 
born May 3, 1802, married to Myron 
Lichenwalter, of Greene Township, Wayne 
County. 

Mr. Brenneman is well known in Wayne 
County as one of the best of its farmers, 
careful in cultivating his land, giving his 
whole time and attention to his business, 
and has, therefore, been more than ordi- 
narilj' successful. For this he deserves 
much credit, the independent position he 
now holds being entirely due to his own 
efforts, aided !)}• a good, industrious wife. 
His true personal character is that of a 



us 



JVAYNE COUNTY. 



thoroughly upright man. He and his 
wife are consistent, worthy members of 
the Oak Grove Amish Meuuonite Church. 



ri( DOLPH K. SCHAAF, farmer and 
Ljl\ notary public, in Smithville, Wayne 
J. — ^ Co., Ohio, is a native of that county, 
born in Canaan Township, April o. 
183ti, his parents being Adam and Anna 
Maria (Mullar ) Schaaf, natives of Zwei- 
bricken, province of Alsace, now a part of 
the German Empire, but then belonging 
to France. 

Adam Schaaf was born April 25, 1804-, 
and lived in his native place until he was 
eighteen years of age, when, to escape con- 
scription, he left home and came to Amer- 
ica. He settled in Somerset County, 
Penn., where he learned the trade of 
wagon-making, having in his native land 
worketl in a grist-mill owned by his 
father. He lived in Somerset until after 
his marriage and the birth of his first 
child, and then removed to Ohio, settling 
a mile north of the site of Smithville, 
which had then but one house, owned by 
a Mr. Smith, from whom the town derives 
its name. Here he established a shop, 
which he carried on for a year or two, 
when he removed to the adjoining town- 
ship of Canaan, where he carried on his 
business until 1842, when he sold to Peter 



Xachtsiugei', and bought an adjoining 
farm, where he made his home for five 
years, selling it in 1847 to John Mc- 

i Clellan, and buying a forty-acre farm in 
Wayne Township. On this place he 
built a shop, which for five years he con- 
ducted in connection with his farm. In 
1852 he again sold out, and bought a place 
of eighty-three acres three-fourths of a 
mile south, to which he added by subse- 
quent purchase, in 1874, twenty acres. 
On this latter place he erected a new 
dwelling, where he lived a retired life 
until his death, which occurred July 19, 
188U. Mr. Schaaf was an excellent mem- 

I ber of society, and universally liked. Of a 
kintl and peaceable disposition, he never 
quarreled with his neighbors, and never in 
his life sued any person. He avoided pub- 
lic office, but was compelled by his neigh- 

I bors to serve two or three terms in township 
offices. He joined the Lutheran Church 
when but fourteen years old, and was al- 
ways a consistent Christian. For many 
years before his death he was deacon and 
elder. He was married in Somerset 
County, Penn., to Anna Maria Miillar, a 
cousin, born in 1805. Her parents first 
located in Somerset, but afterward re- 
moved to Greene Township, AVayne Co., 
Ohio, where both died. Mrs. Schaaf died 
March 13, 1873, in her sixty-ninth year. 
She was kind, sympathetic and charitable, 
never turning the poor or needy empty- 




••J^* ^' *3S^ -^^ ' '• -^ -:rJ- --> -Qj 



.>^ -^^^^ ,-£/^v£^?^^^y^ 



linnded from her door. Like her husband, 
slie was all hor life a member of tlie church, 
ami was a good Christian woman. Mr. 
and Mrs. Schaaf were parents of eight 
children: Rosaniia. widow of Jeremiah 
Stutsman, of Wayne Count}-; Caroline, 
wife of Jacob Walters, of Mansfield, Ohio: 
Mary, wife of Victor Gallagher, of Wayne 
County; Adolph K. ; Edward C. also of , 
Wayne County; Elizabeth, wife of Allen 
Schaffer, of Orrville; Michael M., in 
Wayne County, and one who died in 
infancy. 

Adolph K. Scliaaf, the subject of this 
sketch, has been a resident of Wa)'ne 
County all his life. In his youth he 
helped his father in the shop, and had 
charge of the forty-acre fai'ra when they 
lived there. At the age of twenty-two he 
entered Fredericksburgh Academy, which 
he attended for three terms, subsequently 
attending for a term the school of James 
B. Taylor, in Smithville. Then he began 
teaching, following that profession for 
eleven winters. On giving up teaching 
he gave his entire attention for a year or 
two to farming, but his wife, to whom the 
property belonged, subsequently sold it, 
buying the place of about twelve acres in 
the cor[)oration of Smithville, where they 
now live jn a comfortable and commodi- 
ous home. January 22, 1868, Mr. Schaaf 
was married to Mrs. Mary Greiner, widow 
of Jacob Greiner. Her maiden name was 

2B 



Bollinger, and she was born in Ashland 
County, Ohio, December 10, 1827. Her 
parents emigrated from Dauphin County, 
Penn., to Ohio in 1827, removing thence 
to Huntington County, Ind., where they 
died. Her father was a distiller in the 
East, but after coming West he gave his 
entire attention to farming. He and his 
wife were members of the Lutheran 
Church, of which for many years he was 
a deacon and elder. He bore an unblem- 
ished reputation, and was highly esteemed 
for his charity and other estimable quali- 
ties. Among both whites and Indians, 
who were numerous then, he was univer- 
sally known as "Uncle Bollinger." 

In polities Mr. Schaaf is a Democrat. 
He has held the office of justice of the 
peace for three years, and has been notary 
public for the past three years, and is 
now in his second term. He is a member 
of the Knights of Maccabees, and is held 
in high esteem by his fellow-townsmen. 
He and his wife are members of the Lu- 
theran Church. 



FjREDERICK RICE, retired farmer, 
Chester Township, was born in 
— ' Westmoreland County, Penn., in 
1815. His grandfather, Frederick Rice, 
was also a native of Pennsylvania, l)()rn 
in 17G0, and for five years was a soldier 



452 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



in the ReTolutionary War, serving under 
Washington at Vallej' Forge and Trenton. 
He married a Miss Lauffer, of Westmore- 
land County, Penn., and to them were born 
ten children, all of whom have been dead 
for many years. In 1812 he moved with 
his family to Wayne County, Ohio, and 
settled on a tract of wild land south of 
Wooster, where he improved a good farm, 
making it his home forty years. His 
death occurred in 1850. His son. Chris- 
tian Rice, was born in Westmoreland 
County, Penn., in 1793, mating that coun- 
ty his home until 1819, when he followed 
his father to Wayne County, Ohio. He 
located near Tylertowu, settling on a 
tract of land his father had entered, on 
which he lived a number of years, when 
he purchased and moved to the farm now 
owned by his son Frederick. Christian 
Rice married Charlotte Hine, a native of 
Westmoreland County, Penn., and to them 
were born ten children, three of whom 
are now living. 

Frederick Rice, subject of our notice, 
a& has already been seen, is a representa- 
tive of one of the earliest pioneer fami- 
lies. He was early inured to the work of 
the farm, his education being only such 
as was obtained at the log school-house. 
He has been successful in the vocation 
of his choice, and now owns -lOO acres of 
valuable land, which is divided into 
several farms, all being under cultivation. 



He is one of the prominent citizens of 
Chester Township, and is now enjoying 
the rest from labor and the esteem of 
numerous friends which his early life of 
usefulness so much merits. He was mar- 
ried in 1840 to Diana Firestone, daughter 
of John Firestone. They have bad 
twelve children, eleven of whom are 
living: Margaret Ann, Elizabeth, John, 
Charlotte, Simon, Rachel, Frank, Lydia, 
Jane, Frederick and Ann. Mr. and Mrs. 
Rice are members of the Lutlieran 
Church. In politics he is a Democrat. 



JACOB SCHMUCK. This well-known 
citizen of Wooster has been a resi- 
dent of Wayne County for about 
fifty-five years. His grandfather, also 
named Jacob, a German by birth, came 
to America with his parents when nine 
years old, settling in Pennsylvania; his 
son, Henry, born in that State, was mar- 
ried in the Keystone State to Elizabeth 
Hymiller, who was also born thei-e, and 
they became the parents of our subject. 
Seeking a better opportunity to acquire 
a home, the parents decided to take ad- 
vantage of the rich soil of Wayne County, 
and came here in 1834, with a family 
of eight children, viz. : Margaret, Henry, 
Jacob, Emanuel, Leah, Samuel, Elizabeth 
and Fanny, four of whom are deceased; 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



453 



one is living in Indiana, and the remain- 
ing three in Wayne County. TJie parents 
settled on a farm in Plain Township, and 
there spent the remainder of their lives, 
tlie father dying in 1860, aged seventy- 
four years, and the mother in 1875, at the 
ripe age of ninety-three years. After lo- 
cating liere Henry Schmuck had to clear 
his land, living in a log cabin until able 
to build a better house. At his death he 
left a finely improved farm. For some 
time after coming to this county he also 
followed his trade of a weaver. 

The subject of this sketch was born in 
Lancaster County, Penn., September 14, 
1818, and, for his times, had good educa- 
tional advantages in German. His father 
taught him his own trade, of weaving, in 
his boyhood, and after coming to AVayne 
County he worked hard through the day, 
and at night attended school, to learn to 
read and write the English language. In 
1843 Jacob Schmuck was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Catherine Reiner, a na- 
tive of Wooster, and six children were 
born of this union: Reason A., one of 
the leading farmers of Stark County, 
Ohio; Solomon Henry, manufacturer of 
an adjustable chair, at Cleveland, Ohio, 
having in his employ over thirty hands; 
Jacob F., manufacturing and retailing 
furniture, and also engaged in the under- 
taking business, under the firm name of 
Landis & Schmuck, Wooster; Harriet, de- 



ceased, was the wife of David C. Herr, a 
dealer in real estate and insurance, Cleve- 
land, Ohio; Catherine, deceased, was the 
wife of Stephen Day, formerly dealer in 
stoves and tinware, Wooster, but now a 
farmer of Wayne County; Ethelinda is 
the wife of D. Y. Landis, of Wooster. 
In 185(j the mother passed to her last 
sleep, at the early age of thirty-five years, 
and Mr. Schmuck was subsequently mar- 
ried to Miss Rebecca Moon, a native of 
Stark County, Ohio, who is the mother of 
two children : Wallace Emmet and Amelia 
Jane, both living with their parents, and 
attending school. In 1809 our subject 
gave up farming and came to Wooster, 
where he built his present fine residence 
on North Bever Street, where he is now 
enjoying the results of a long life of in- 
dustry and thrift. He began poor, and 
worked in Wayne County often for twenty 
or twenty- five cents a day. By enter- 
prise, hard work and economy, he has 
reached a place where, in his declining 
years, he can enjoy an ample competence, 
the legitimate reward of his industrious 
life. He still owns his fine farm of over 
200 acres, in Franklin Township, besides 
other property. He is a Republican in 
his political belief, Ijut is invariably 
guided in his action by his mature judg- 
ment as to both men and measures. 
Himself and part of his family are mem- 
bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 



454 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



and to-day he is probably as well and fa- 
vorably known by its people as any citi- 
zen of Wayne County. 



I/SAAC MILLER, farmer, Chester 
Township, was born in Wayne County, 
— Ohio, August 8, 1834, a son of Abra- 
ham and Sarah (Rough) Miller. Abra- 
ham Miller was born in Berks County, 
Penu., in 1803, and in 1805 his father, 
Jacob Miller,moved to Columbiana County, 
Ohio, where he was reared. In 1829 he 
moved to Wayne County, and settled in 
Chester Tovvnship,where he bought eighty 
acres of land, to which he subsequently 
added until he owned 240 acres. He was 
by trade a blacksmith, at which he worked 
in connection with farming twenty-five or 
thirty years. He was twice married : first 
to Sarah Rough, and to them were born 
thirteen children, viz. : William, Jacob, 
Abraham, Mary, Isaac, Sarah, Samuel, 
John, George W., Daniel, Franklin, 
Amauda Jane and Benjamin N. Four 
of these children are deceased. After 
the mother's death the father married 
Lizzie Shenberger, and they have had four 
children: Matilda and Malinda (twins), 
Rebecca and Mathias. 

Isaac Miller was reared in his native 
county, receiving fair educational advan- 
tages. When seventeen years of age he 



learned the blacksmith's trade, following 
that vocation three years. He is now one 
of tiie prominent farmers of Chester 
Township, where he has a good farm of 
sixty-eight aci'es, all under cultivatic)n. 
with good building improvements. He 
was married, in 1864, to Sarah Gaerte, 
daughter of Henry Gaerte, of Stark 
County, Ohio, and they have a family of 
four children, viz.: Ella J., David F.. 
Zeno A. and Anna Z. (twins). In poli- 
tics Mr. Miller is a Democrat. He is a 
member of the Lutheran Church. 



DAVID Y. LANDIS. This well- 
I known business man of Wooster 

is a native of the Keystone State, 

born in Lehigh County, January 10, 1840. 
His father, William Landis, was also 
born in the same county, and was of 
Swiss extraction, his forefather having 
come to this country to escape religious 
persecution in his native land, where two 
of the family had_ been burned at the 
stake as heretics. They Avere believers 
in the Mennonite faith, and besides being 
a farmer, William Landis was until his 
death a preacher of that denomination. 
His wife was Mary Young, daughter of 
Peter and Susan Young, all natives of 
Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Landis 
were blessed with eitrht cliildren, of whom 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



455 



six are still living, three, Peter Y., AVill- 
iaiu Y. aud Daviil Y., in Wayne County, 
and three, Enos Y'., Owen Y'. and Nathan 
Y.. in Philadelphia, Penii. In 1848 the 
husband and father was called to his last 
home, and his widow continued to live in 
Pennsylvania until 1S58, when she re- 
moved to Wayne County, and is still liv- 
ing here, aged eighty-two years. 

David Y. Landis, the subject of this 
sketch, received his education in the com- 
mon schools of his native State, and afc 
fourteen years of age began life for him- 
self by learning the trade of cabinet-mak- 
ing and carving at Allen town, Penn. In 
18i;0 he followed his mother to this 
count)', and worked at his trade in 
Wooster until lSf>',l, when he formed a 
partnership, and has ever since been en- 
gaged in business in Wooster. His 
present partner is Jacob F. Schmuek, aud 
tliey carr}' on tlu^ furniture and under- 
taking business, having the largest stock 
of goods in tiieir line in Wooster. 

In 1873 Mr. Landis was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Linnie Schmuek, a sister 
of his partner, and a native of Wayne 
County. Two children have been born to 
them: Lillie Belle and Daisy Dell, who 
are still under the parental roof. 

Mr. Landis has had to make his own 
way in the world, and the success he has 
achieved is due to his energy and in- 
dustry, backed l>y gnoil judgment, and 



made more certain by the reputation he 
has justly acquired of being a thoroughly 
honest business man, whose word can at 
all times be relied upon. He is a mem- 
ber of the Masonic fraternity and of the 
I. O. O. F. He was a member of Capt. 
James H. Robinson's Company I, One 
Hundred and Second Ohio Volunteer In- 
fantry, enlisting August o, 18G2, and 
served for three years. He is now a 
member of Given Post, No. 133, G. A. R. 



n^ DAM F( 
IL1\ known 
JJ -^ ship, wf 



FOREST JOHNSON, a well- 
farmer of Wooster Town- 
as born in Salt Creek Town- 
ship, Wayne County, Ohio, March 
I'J, 185G. His grandfather, James John- 
sou, a native of Pennsylvania, married 
Mary White, aud in ISlfJ they came to 
Wayne County, settling in Salt Creek 
Township on a piece of wild land, where 
the sound of the white man's ax had 
never been heard. Here they died, the 
grandfather in 1809, at the age of seventy 
years, and the grandmother iu 1884, at 
the age of eighty-four. Four children, 
three sons and one daughter, were born 
to this C()U])le, two of whom are ^-et living: 
St. Clair Johnson, in Salt Creek Town- 
ship, Wayne County, and Mrs. Ruth 
Grant, in Stark County, Ohio. One son, 
William Johnson, father of Adam F., was 



456 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



born in Fayette County, Penn., in 1815, 
and remained on the home farm until he 
was twenty-one years of age, at which 
time he married Mary Hatfield, a native 
of Wayne County, and daughter of Robert 
and Nancy Hatfield. In 1868 oiir sub- 
ject's parents removed to Wooster Town- 
ship, where they spent the remainder of 
their lives. They were the parents of ten 
children, as follows: James W., who was 
for three years a soldier, and is now living 
in Salt Creek Township, this county; 
Nancy M., deceased; Ruth E., residing 
in Wooster; Margaret L., now Mrs. Rob- 
ert Mackey; Catherine, now Mrs. B. C. 
Smith, of Fredericksburgh ; Jennie, living 
in Wooster: Adam F. ; Lucinda B., a 
teacher in Wooster; Homer E., deceased, 
and Ezra D., a resident of Indiana. The 
parents of this family died, the father in 
1873, at the age of fifty-eight years, and 
the mother in 1883, at the age of sixty- 
two, both members of Apple Creek 
Presbyterian Church, then of Fredericks- 
burgh, later of Wooster, of which church 
the family ai-e also members. William 
Johnson passed a busy life, and did much 
toward the development of the county. 
He won success solely b}' his own exer- 
tions, and without help from any adven- 
titious circumstances. Politically he was 
first a Whig, and afterward, on the for- 
mation of the party, an active Republican. 
Adam F. Johnson has most of his life 



made his home near his parents' place, 
his sister keeping house for him part of 
the time. After some five years' residence 
on the "lower farm," he removed to the 
parental homestead, where he has since 
remained. In 1885 he was married to 
Miss Laura J. Searight, a native of Fred- 
ericksburgh, Wayne County, and a daugh- 
ter of Gilbert and Matilda J. (McCni- 
lough) Searight. Mr. and Mrs. Adiua 
F. Johnson have one cliild, named Adam 
Forest. The parents are members of the 
Presbyterian Church, and in politics Mr. 
Johnson is a Republican. He has met 
with success in life, and socially is higlily 
esteemed and warmly beloved b}' a large 
circle of friends and acquaintances. 

Gilbert Searight, father of Mrs. Adam 
F. Johnson, was a native of Salt Creek 
Township, Wayne County, Ohio, and was 
born on the farm on which he died. Here 
he grew to manhood, and in 1841) was 
married to Matilda J., daughter of James 
and Sarah (McCall) McCallough. natives 
of Holmes County, Ohio. December 2. 
1879, Mrs. Gilbert Searight died, aged 
nearly forty- seven years, and the mother 
of ten children, viz.: Ohio J., living in 
Fredericksburgh; William A., in Carlisle, 
Penn.; John F., deceased; Leonard M., 
in Cook City, Montana: Laura J., now 
Mrs. Adam F. Johnson; Lucinda F., now 
Mrs. H. C. Bishop, in Mount Vernon, Knox 
County; Sadie M. and Frank D., at home: 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



457 



Annie D. died iu 1875; Gilbert S. died 
in October, 1888. For his second wife 
Mr. Gilbert Searight married, June 30, 
1885, Miss Nancy Haley, and on July 7, 
1888, he departed this life, at the nge of 
sixty-nine years. He was a stanch Re- 
publican, and a member and deacon of the 
Presbyterian Church of Fredericksburgh. 
Before there were any churches in the 
locality services were held in his house, 
and he gave the land for the church. His 
widow, Mrs. Nancy Searight, continues to 
live at the old home place, at Freilericks- 
burgh. 

William Searight, father of Gilbert 
Searight, was a native of Carlisle, Cum- 
berland Countj', Peun., born October 17, 
1779, the son of a Revolutionary soldier, 
who came from Irelaml iu about 17()0, 
settling in Carlisle, Penn. William Sea- 
right married, in Carlisle, Miss Jane 
Johnston, and in 1811 they removed to 
Salt Creek Township, this county, where 
they settled on the -iGO-acre tract he had 
entered shortly before, and which now 
constitutes the home farm of the family. 
Here they endured all the trials and hard- 
ships of pioneer life, and for a long time 
were the oulj' family in Salt Creek Town- 
ship, their nearest neighbors being resi- 
dents of that [)art of Holmes County now 
known as Prairie Township. William 
Searight built, in 1813, the fii-st saw-mill 
on Salt Creek, a short distance from the 



residence of Gilbert Searight. William 
was a man of large physical proportions, 
weighing 300 pounds. He died July 16, 
1840, and his wife in February, 1848. 
The paternal and maternal grandparents 
of Mrs. Adam F. Johnson came to this 
country together (from Pennsylvania), her 
maternal grandparents settling in Holmes 
County, becoming the nearest neighbors 
of William Searight, and the first block- 
house in the country was built there. 



CHARLES A. LERCH, M. D., was 
born in Plain Township, Wayne 
Co., Ohio, in 1852, one of four chil- 
dren born to Piiilip and Margaret Lerch, 
namely: Luther, born in October, 1847; 
Eliza Jane, born in 1849; Charles A.; 
and Laura H., born in 1855, nud died iu 
1862. The family moved from Pennsyl- 
vania to AVayne County, Ohio, in 1850. 

The subject of this biographical me- 
moir attended Smithville High School 
three years, entering in 1870, and then 
engaged in teaching and studying medi- 
cine for several years, pursuing a course 
at Cleveland (Ohio) Medical College, 
from there going to Cincinnati, wltfre he 
graduated from the Cincinnati College of 
Medicine and Sur-gery -in 1877. The 
Doctor then located at Burliank, Wayne 
Co., Oliio. where he practiced medicine 



458 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



for about two aud a half years; tbeiice 
moved to Huntington, Ohio, remaining 
for about the same length of time in the 
practice of his chosen profession, and then 
located in Blachleyville, Plain Township, 
Wayne County, and from there moved to 
Wooster, Ohio, January 3, 1889, where, 
as a successful medical practitioner, he 
enjoys, both in the town and a wide coun- 
try ride, unqualified confidence and re- 
spect. Dr. Lerch was married, in 1874, 
to Jennie Fish, of New Brighton, Penn., 
b}' whom he had the following-named 
children: William L., born November 
19, 1876; Ethel Annie, born March 13, 
1879, and an infant that died in 1882. 
The Doctor and family are members of 
the Lutheran Church of Wooster. 



'CHARLES GASCHE. This old and 
honored citizen of Wooster has 
been a resident of the place for 
more than half a century. He was born 
in Wetzlar, Kingdom of Prussia, June 10, 
1810, and is now, therefore, well advanced 
in years. His father, also named Charles, 
was married to Catherine Eisengarth, and 
came with his family to America in June, 
1833, locating first in York, Penn., but 
moving later to Wooster, where they ar- 
rived October 13, 1835. He was a phy- 
sician and surjjeon in his native land, be- 



ing for thirtj- }'ears connected with a 
hospital there, and he continued tiie prac- 
tice of his profession in this country. He 
was a man of wide experience and of 
great skill, particularly in surgery. His 
wife died in Holmes County in 18-1'2, aged 
fifty-eight years, and he in 1802, in Ful- 
ton County, Ohio, at the ripe age of 
eighty-three years; both were members of 
the Lutheran Church. They were the 
parents of eight children, one of whom 
I died in the old country, the other seven 
( accompanying them to America. 
! The subject of our sketch was edu- 
cated in his native land, and when a boy 
was apprenticed to the trade of a carpen- 
ter and cabinet-maker. He also served 
his allotted time of three years in the 
Prussian armj-. After his immigration 
to this counti-y he worked at his trade in 
York, Penn., and in Wooster, Ohio, he 
continued actively engaged in same until 
1884, when he retired to enjoy a well- 
earned repose. April 7, 1835, in York, 
Penn., Mr. Gasche was united in marriage 
with Barbara Minich, a native of Bavaria, 
who when seventeen years old came to 
this country with her parents, who settled 
in Pennsylvania, where Vioth died. Of 
this union seven children were born ( six 
: of whom are still living) : Catherine, wife 
I of Ernest Thomen, in Wooster; Anna, 
wife of Frederick Aumann, living with 
her parents; Charles C, a resident of 



WAYNE COUNTY 



459 



AVooster: Freileiick AV., in Millerslmrgh. 
Holmes County; Julius, n farmer in 
Holmes County, Ohio: Nettie M., wife of 
Prof. Collins, of Oxford, Ohio, where he 
is professor of mathematics and astron- 
on)y, and Oscnr Tiipodore, wlio dird in 
infancy. 

Our subject has always beeu interested 
in {)olitical affairs, but has in the exercise of 
his suffrage been guided by his judgment 
rather than by [tarty dictation. He was 
always a friend of freedom, and aban- 
doned the idea of settling in Missouri 
because it was a slave State. For eight 
years he was a member of tiie town coun- 
cil of Wooster; for two years was town- 
ship trustee, and for eight years was a 
director of the infirmary. He is affili- I 
ated with the Temple of Honor and of the 
Knights of Pythias, and lie ami his wife 
are respected members of the Evangelical 
Lutheian Church. When he first came 
to Wooster it was but a small place of 
about 1,000 iidiabitants, and had but poor 
school facilities, l)ut Mr. Gasche identi- 
fied himself with those who favored better 
educational advantages, ami, although 
opposed by some, they succeeded in their 
object. AVhen the Wooster University 
project was started he took a warm in- 
terest in it, contributing liberally toward 
its V)uilding, and has been a warm friend 
of the institution. He is really the father 
of the Children's Home, as it was mainly 



through his ell'orts the project was sul)- 
mitted to the people and carried by a 
majority of 2,300. Mr. Gasche is self- 
made in the best signification of tlie 
word. He was enterprising, and started 
with a determination to succeed. Soon 
after coming to Wooster he was afflicted 
with rheumatism, and while yet com- 
pelled to go on Clutches, often hobliled 
before daylight to his bench, working ail 
day, with sometimes but a scanty dinner. 
But he struggled on, and, encouraged and 
aided by his devoted wife, he made a 
marked success, and stands to-day one of 
the best known and highly res[)ected citi- 
zens of Wayne County, in wliose advance- 
ment he has been a potent factor. 



JE. WACHTEL, son of Jacob ami 
Elizabeth (Riddle) AVachtel, was 
born in Plain Township, AVayne Co., 
Ohio, in 1834-. .Jacob AA'achtel came from 
A'irjjinia, located in AVavne Countv, Ohio, 
and was married in what is now Ashland 
County. He was a farmer, and located on 
what is known as the Ball farm. After 
making several purchases and sales he 
finally settled near Mohicanville, where he 
died. Elizalieth, his widow, moved to 
Iowa, where she died in lS()t). They had 
two children: Elizabeth, tlie late Mrs. A. 
D. Robison, of Lvnn C'ountv. Inwa, who 



4i30 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



died in September, 1865, and the subject 
of this memoir. J. R., however, had two 
half brothers and one lialf sister: Jacob, 
deceased; Henry, in Mohicanville, en- 
gaged in mercantile pursuits, and Cather- 
ine, deceased. 

J. K. Wachtel was reared in Ohio, and 
iu 1852 went to California, arriving at his 
destination August 17, where he remained 
engaged in mining for a period of thir- 
teen years, i-eturning August 17, 1865. 
In 1867 he married Laurenza, daughter 
of John and Sarah Finley, located at 
Mohicanville, and removed to Shreve Sep- 
tember 2, 1879, where he has since been 
engaged iu the dry goods trade. To 
them one daughter was born, Clara, who 
died when eleven years of age, and they 
have since adopted a child, Lula, now 
(1888) a girl of twelve years of age. 
Mr. and Mrs. Wachtel are members of the 
Disciples Church. Politically he is an ar- 
dent Democrat. 




ES. M. J. McBRIDE, widow of 
John K. McBride, is a native of 
Wooster, born in the house where 
she now lives April 23, 1823. 
With the exception of eight years her en- 
tire life has been passed iu Wooster, 
where she was educated in a select school 
taught bv Mrs. McKee. In ISl-l she was 



united in marriage with Mr. John K. 
McBride, who was born in Westmorelaml 
County, , Penn., in 1809. His parents, 
Alexander and Anna J. (Kelly) McBride, 
were also natives of that State. When 
Mr. McBride was a small boy his parents 
decided to come to Ohio, and on arriving 
here settled on a farm three miles from 
Wooster. In 1863 the mother passed 
away, at the age of seventy-five, and in 
1869 the father followed her to the grave, 
ased eightv-four vears. He had farmed 
until too old for active labor, when he re- 
tired to Wooster. 

The early life of John K. McBride was 
passed upon the farm, and his education 
was obtained at the coujitry schools. 
When about eighteen years old he began 
learning the trade of a chair-maker, but 
later entered mercantile life, continuing 
therein until 1S63, in which year he was 
elected probate judge of Wayne County, 
which position he filled for two terms. 
This decided him to enter the profession 
' of law, and the rest of his life was passed 
in its study and practice, and he was very 
successful and prosperous. He was elect- 
ed a member of the constitutional conven- 
tion of 1872. which drafted the present 
constitution of the State. November 6, 
1SS6, Mr. McBride was called to his last 
rest, at the age of seventy-seven years. 
He had been twice married, and by his 
first uiarriaije became father of two cliil- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



461 



ilreii, one of whom is yet liviug, Harry, a 
commission merclmnt in New Yoik City. 
Of liis mnrriiijje with tiie estimable ladv 
whose name heads tliis sketch one son 
was born, Thomas A., who became a phy- 
sician, and practiced in New York, where 
he attained considerable eminence. He 
died in August, 1886, while returning 
from Europe on the steamer " Aller," and 
was l)uried at sea, having been for the 
benefit of his health to the Carlsbad 
Springs, Germany. This blow was a 
heavy one for the parents, and undoubt- 
edly hastened the death of the father. 
Dv. McBride was a graduate of Kenyon 
ColIe<re, Ohio, and had also graduated 
in medicine at the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons in New York City. 

John K. McCride occupied a promi- 
nent position in the business and social 
circles of the county. He was a member 
r)f the Odd Fellows oi-der, of the Knights 
of Pythias, and in his earlier life be- 
came a Freemason. He was truly a self- 
made man, who by his own energy and 
close application won the large measure 
of the success which he achieved. He 
was universally respected in tlit^ coiiinui- 
nity. and had the entire confiilence of ever}', 
one who knew him. He and his estima- 
ble wife were both active members of the 
Episcopal Church in Wooster. Since the 
d.ath of her husband, Mrs. McBride has 
resided in her cliildlinod's humc in Woos- 



ter with her widowed sister, Mrs. M. A. 
Shively, and is calmly awaiting the sum- 
mons which shall reunite her to him who 
has gone before. All of the family are 
well known in Wooster, where they are 
held in the highest regard. 

Martha A. Shively is the widow of A. 
R. Shively, one of Wooster's formerly 
well-known citizens. She was born in the 
house where she now lives, in Wooster, 
May 5, 1831. Her family history is more 
fully given under the name of her brother. 
Dr. James D. Robison, on another page. 

On May 15, 1856, she was united in 
marriage with A. R. Shively, a native of 
Pottsville, Penn., and later a resident of 
Reading, Penn. At the age of twenty- 
two he came to Wooster. and embarked in 
the foundry business, which he had 
learned in his native State, carrying it on 
in connection witli an uncle. Here lie 
lived the rest of his life, dying in Febru- 
ary, 1870. when but thirty-nine years of 
ajre. By this marria<re Mrs. Shivelv be- 
came the mother of six children: Ellen D., 
wife of Rev. W. S. Cochran, of Caryopolis; 
John McB., a resident of Montana; .\nn. 
Mrs. Husrli M. Annat. <>f Wooster; Ed- 
ward, living in Cleveland, Ohio; and 
George I. and Martha L., witii their 
mother. Mr. Shively was one of Wooster's 
progressive business men, and his loss 
was felt in the community, where he was 
esteemed as an upright man and a good 



462 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



citizen. Since her Lusband's demise, formerly a resident of Somerset Countv. 
Mrs. Shively has continued to live in her Penu. They have no children living, 
old home. She is a member of the First Mr. Schrock has been a minister of the 

Presbyterian Church of Wooster, and ' gospel for twenty-five years in the Church 
is much respected. ' of the " Brethren in Christ." In 1859 

he purchased his present farm of eighty- 



four acres, formerly the Landis propertv. 




EV. ELIAS SCHKOCK. Peter 
Schrock came to Wayne County in 
1818, bought 120 acres of laud in 

Greene Township, and there re- 
mained until he died. He was born in 
.Somerset County, Penu., in 1795. His 
father, Casper Schrock, was a native of 
Germany, and came to America at an 
early period, and settled in Pennsylvania. 
Niue children were Ijoru to this pioneer, 
of whom Peter was the youngest, and 
was reared iu his native county, and re- 
mained there until 1818. He married Sa- 
rah Miller, daughter of Yost Miller, of 
Holmes County, Ohio, formerly of Penn- 
sylvania. Three sous and five daughters 
were born to Peter and his wife. He was 
a well-to-do farmer, having followed farm- 
ing throughout life, and was also a mia- 
ister ill the Amish Church. 

Elias Schrock was the second son and 
fifth child of his parents, and was born in 
1S29. He was educated in the common 
schools, and has principally followed 
farming. He was married in 1853 to 
Elizabeth, daughter of Henrv Stutzman, 



GAPT. HOE ACE X. CLEMENS 
was born September IS, 1854, on a 
—' farm near the village of Etna, Lick- 
ing County, Ohio, and is the first born 
and only son of David L. and L^rania 
(Kuowles) Clemens. Until arriving at 
the age of twenty he worked with his 
father on the farm, attending the village 
school during the winter seasons, thus ac- 
quiring a fair common-school education. 
During the school year of 1872-73 he 
attended the high school at Ashtabula, 
Ohio, taking a course in some of the 
higher branches of study. In the fall 
of 1874 he came to Wooster and entered 
the senior class of the preparatory de- 
partment of the University of Woostei'. 
He pursued his course of study in tliis in- 
stitution without interruption, graduating 
in June, 1879, with the degree of A. B., 
being the third honor man in a class of 
thirty-one. During his college course 
he displayed marked talent as a writer 
and orator, being: awarded the first 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



463 



prize in tlio junior orfttorical contest iu 
June, ls7>i. In 1881 tlie University of 
AVooster conferred upon liini the degree 
of A. M. After graduation he entered 
the law oflSce of Downing & Yocum, in 



Wooster, as a student of law, but in No- 
vember, 1879, he was called upon to 
temporarily take a position as local ed- 
itor of the Wooster Republican* owing 
to the protracted illness of Mr. J. G. 



* The Woii-itir Rejiubhrnii bears Hip distiiiguislicil 
honor of being the tirst newspaper ever piil)lished 
in Waj-ne County. In the earlier part of tlie year 
1?17 the late Judge Levi Cox estalilished and" be- 
gan the publication of a weetilv paper, calleil the 
Ohi'i Sjiirliit'ir, in the villatre cif \Voo.sler. In a few 
months Judge Cox took into partnership witli him 
Sanuul Baldwin, and the puliliealion of tlie pai)er 
continued under the proi)rietorshi]) of Cox iN: Bald- 
win. At the end of the lirst year .ludge Cox re- 
tired from the tirm. Mr. Asa W. W. Ilickox taking 
liis place. Mr. Hickox. however, left at the end of 
a year's eonnection with llie paper, and Mr. Bald- 
win continued its publication aloiu". but being 
bodily intirm, he soon fell a victim to that dread 
disease, consumption. Dr. Thomas Townsend, a 
relative of the deceased, assumed the control of the 
paper and closed out the remainder of Mr. Bald- 
win's year. At the end of the year the paper be- 
came defunct. Judge Cox having a lien upon the 
office resumed the possession of it, and soiui there- 
after issued proposals for a renewal of the is/iecta- 
tor. He finally sold the fixtures, etc., of the office 
to Mr. Benjamin Bently. of Wooster, vpho took 
into partnership with him a Mr. Clingan. The new 
firm accordingly revived the <lefunct paper, and on 
the i;ith of January, 1820. began its issue under 
the name of the Wonsltr Sjiirlutur. This firm con- 
tinued the publication for two years, when Mr. 
Bently withdrew, selling his interest to Mr. ('lin- 
gan, whoconducted the paper himself forfive years 
longer. In the spring of 1826 Col. John Barr. of 
Hagerstown, Md., bought the oBice. and for about 
four years issued the paper uiuler the tit-le of the 
0/iio OracU. devoted to the .support of Gen. Jack- 
son for president. Col. Barr sold his office to 
David Sloane, of Wooster, who issued the pa]ier 
under the name of the WooaliT Journal and Vcmii- 
cralir Times. After issuing this paper for four 
years he transferred it to his brother-in-law, .1. W. 
Schuekers, who puhlished it for a like period. Mr. 
Schuckers disposed of the concern to Daniel 
Sprague. who took charge of it June 23. ISIili. con- 
ducting it under the same caption, the M'ooaler 
Journal nnd Deuiocnilir Tiuii'.H. On September IG. 
1840. be changed the title of the |):iper to the 
Wooster Ucniornil. After conducting the paper in 
a most successful manner for over sixteen years he 
disposed of it, his successors, II. C. Johnson and 
Enos Foreman, assuming control of it August 'i, 
1852. On May 12, IS.'iS, its managers resolved to 
change the name of the paper, and thereafter it was 
published under its present title, the \Voo.ttir l{i jiiili- 
liciin. On .\ugusl 12. IM.IS, Mr. Johnson retired 
from the inatmgenieiit of tlie office. .Mr. P'oreman 
becoming both .sole proprietor and editor. On July 



2.5. 18(il. Mr. Foreman issued a daily from the 
lifjjiihlirnn office, which was continued without 
intermission until November 30, 18(51. This was 
the tir.sl daily ever published in Wayne Counly, and 
was devoted almost exclusively to war news." .Mr. 
Foreman sold the paper, August 4, 1870, to Cajil. 
A. S. McClure. Joseph G. Sanborn and L. .Ie£f 
Sprenglc. who at once assumed the pro|)rietorsliip 
of the Uijiublii'iin, underthe firm name of McClure, 
Sanborn & Co., Capt. McClure taking charge 
as editor, and Mr. Sanborn as business man- 
ager, Mr. Sprengle simply holding his interest 
as a silent partner in the concern. In November, 
18Til, Mr. Sanborn was stricken down with a ]iro- 
tracted spell of fever, and Mr. H. N. Clemens was 
called in to temporarily take the business manage- 
ment and act as local editor. About the time Mr. 
Sanborn had recovered his health sufficiently to 
resume his work. Capt. McClure was nominated 
for Congress, being elected in the fall of l.HMO. In 
the meaniimi! Mr. Clemens was retained in the em 
ploy of the firm, being permanently employed as 
city editor of the paper upon Capt. McClure's re 
tirement to take his seat in Congress. Mr. Sanburn 
taking McClure's place as editor. On August 1. 
1882. Mr. Clemens purchased the oni-third interest 
of L. Jeff Sprengle, and became an active p.irtner 
in the concern. Mr. Sanborn conducted the paper 
as its editor until January 1. 1881, when Capt. 
McClure returned and resumed the editorial man- 
agement. On April 1, 188.'"), Mr. Sanborn sold his 
one-third interest in the paper to I'cter C. (Jiven, 
who did not actively become connected with the 
paper. At the same lime the firm name was 
changed to McClure it Clemens, (apt. McClure 
retired from the editorial managemi'tit of thepaiier, 
Mr. Clemens assuming both its editorial and busi- 
ness management, which position he still tills. On 
June 27. 1H87. Mr. Clemens purchased Mr. (Jiven's 
interest, thus becomingthe two-thirds and controll- 
ing owner of the llepuhlii-an. On this dale also the 
style of the firm w-as changed to II. N. Clemens A: 
Co., Capt. Mc(;iure still retaining his one-third in 
terest in the coiuern. On October 27, 1887. Mr. 
Clemens began the iiublication of a five-column, 
four-page daily, under the name of tin- \Voo.i- 
fir Morniny It'i/nih/ican. On June 3, 1889, the 
daily was changed to a six column, four page after- 
noon paper, and has since been publisliecl under the 
name cil^ the Wmoitrr /),iili/ Rijni/iHi'on. Both the 
daily and weekly llepublienn are now in allourish 
ing condition, the dailv being the only daily paper 
pid)lished in Wayne ('ounty. The '/{•■jiiililii-nn is 
the only Uepubliian jiaper published in the<i>unty. 
ami is the official organ of the party in Wayne 
County. 



464 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Sauboru, one of the proprietors of that 
paper, aiicl its local editor. Mr. Clemens 
continued to fill this position until 
April, 1S81, when he was offered the 
position of book-keeper and local editor 
by the proprietors of the paper, which 
he accepted. In the summer of 1882 
he purchased an interest in the Eepuh- 
lican, and in 1887 became the business 
manager and editor of that paper. As 
editor and manager of the Eepublican 
he has been verj- successful, and, tliough 
yet yoiing in years, has already taken 
rank with the recognized leaders in the 
editorial profession in Ohio. 

In 1881 Capt. Clemens enlisted as a 
private in the Wooster City Guard, Com- 
pany D, Eighth Regiment of Infantry, 
Ohio National Guard, and was soon pro- 
moted to the rank of fifth sergeant. From 
time to time he was promoted from one 
grade to another until he was made the 
first sergeant of the company May 30, 
1883. At the expiration of his first term of 
service he re-enlisted, and June 30, 1886, 
was elected and commissioned second 
lieutenant of the company. A vacancy 
occurring in the captaincy of the com- 
pany, he was elected captain by an almost 
unanimous vote of the company, and re- 
ceived his commission from Gov. Foraker 
November 23, 1886. Capt. Clemens has 
ably continued the work begun by his 
predecessors, and has the honor of com- 



manding what is recognized as the crack 
company of the Ohio National Guard. 

On August 5, 1885, Capt. Clemens was 
married to Miss Flora Elizabeth Kauke, 
the youngest daughter of John H. Kauke, 
one of Wooster's oldest and wealthiest 
citizens. 




ILLIAM DEXTER TYLER, an 

r/- esteemed young business man of 
— ' Wooster, Ohio, was born in Her- 
kimer County, N. Y., in 1853, of Scotch- 
English extraction, his ancestors having 
come to America at an early date, the 
paternal grandfather having served in the 
Revolution. The grandparents all died 
in the East. William F. Tyler, the father 
of our subject, married Miss Hannah 
Pratt, a native of Connecticut, who bore 
him four children, of whom William D. 
is the only son. In 1859 the parents 
came to Ohio, and have since made their 
home in Mansfield, the father having re- 
tired from business in 1877. 

William D. Tyler, or " Dex. Tyler," as 
he is more commonly called, received a 
practical business education, and while yet 
but a boy began clerking. Some years 
later he became a traveling salesman, in 
which capacity he continued for several 
years. In 1881 he was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Melissa A., daughter of 



M'ATNE COUNTY. 



4G5 



Jacob and Eliznbetli Frick, of Wooster, 
and they have two chihiieu, Frick and 
AValter. lu 1882 Mr. Tyler came from 
Cincinnati to Wooster, since whicli time 
lie has been engaged in the grain busi- 
ness as a partner with his father-in-law. i 
He later became, and still continues, a 
stockholder and director in the Wayne 
County National Bunk. Politically Mr. 
Tyler is a Republican, a most earnest 
worker in the cause, and liberal to every i 
public good. In acknowledgment of his 
interest and lilierality the Wooster Hook 
and Ladder Company, one of the swiftest 
and most efficient in the State, now bears 
the name '-The Dex. Tyler." Mr. Tyler 
is a member of the Royal Arcanum and 
Knights of Honor, and is a Knight 
Templar. 



JOHN ELEY. This well-known res- 
' ident of the city of Wooster comes 
' of German ancestry, and was born 
in Franklin County, Penu., in July, 1803. 
His grandfather. Christian Eley, came 
from Germany, and settled in the county 
and State above named, where his son 
John, the father of our subject, was born. 
John Eley, Sr., was a Revolutionary sol- 
dier, was in Washington's army, and died 
in Franklin County in 1835. His widow, 



who was a Miss Mary Neff, afterward 
moved to Indiana, where she died. She 
bore her husband seven children, of whom 
the subject of this sketch and his brother 
David are the sole survivors. 

John Eley, whose name heads this 
sketch, had the advantage of the old-time 
pay school, and when a boy began learn- 
ing of his father the trade of coopering, 
which he followed for forty years. In 
1825 he was united in marriage with Miss 
Mary Dice, a native of Franklin County, 
Penn., with whom he lived in happy wed- 
lock for nearly sixty years. She died in 
January, 1883, aged seventy-three years. 
Seven children were born of their union, 
as follows: Margaret, now Mrs. Enoch 
Smith, in East Union Township, this 
county; John, in Toledo, Ohio; Stephen, 
living near Toledo; Sarah, wife of George 
Winters, of Toledo; Samuel, Elijah and 
an unnamed infant (deceased). Mr. Eley 
has been the architect of his own 
fortunes. 

He started in life without a dollar, his 
only capital being the trade taught him by 
his father. A long life of industry and 
thrift bi'ought its fitting recompense, how- 
ever, and to-day, in his old age, he is in 
possession of a hard-earned and well-de- 
served competence. He and his faithful 
wife reared their children to be good men 
and women, and before the mother's de- 
I parture the pai-ents had the happiness of 



46G 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



seeing their offspring all well settled in 
life, and occupying houorable positions in 
society. 

In his political convictions Mr. Eley 
has always been a Democrat, but liberal 
in his ideas, and tolerant of the opinions 
of others. He and his beloved wife wei-e 
for many years members of the Lutheran 
Church. He has spent many years in 
Wayne County, where his worth as a man 
and a citizen has always been recognized 
and appreciated, and where he has ever 
borne an honorable name and repute, and 
he has done his share to promote the 
prosperity of his adopted home. His 
children established iu homes of their 
own, and his devoted wife gone to her re- 
ward, the venerable father and widower, 
now in his eighty-sixth year, is living 
alone,calmly awaiting the summons which 
shall reunite him to his long-loved compan- 
ion on the other shore. 



AMUEL WHITMOKE was born in 
Franklin County, Penn., February 
3, 1816, a son of Samuel Whitmore, 
Avho was native of Virginia, and married to 
Susan Over, of Lancaster County, Peun. 
Samuel, the subject of this memoir, came 
to Wayne County, Ohio, in 1846, and hired 



to work on the farm he now owns. His 
parents came in 1851, and located on an ad- 
joining farm, where the father died in 1867, 
and the mother in 1884. They were prom- 
inent members of the United Brethren 
Church. They reared eight children, all 
of whom are dead except Ephraim, in Con- 
gress Township, Wayne County; Hiram, 
in Westtield Township, Medina Co., Ohio; 
E. D., in Wooster, Ohio; Rebecca, wife 
of George Ogler, of Wooster. and Samuel, 
the subject of this sketch, who is the eld- 
est living, and a farmer by occupation. 

He married, in Franklin County, Penu., 
in 1845, Miss Catherine, daughter of 
Thomas McCracken, and by this union there 
' were five children, two of whom died in 
infanc}'. The living are Thomas, a farmer 
of Medina County, Ohio, married to Cal- 
ista Bessey, of Medina County, and has 
four children: Charles, Margaret, Mary 
and Russell ; Samuel, a farmer of Medina 
County, married to Jeanette, daughter of 
John Kinnej-, of Crestou, Wayne County, 
and has four children: Maud, Mary, Frank 
and Paul; Loretta Jane, wife of John 
Slutz, of Bueua Vista County, Iowa. Mr. 
Whitmore lived iu Medina County, Ohio, 
for thirteen years, and while there he 
served as school director of Westfield 
Township. He is a prominent and stanch 
supporter of the Republican party. He 
is a consistent member of the Burbauk 
United Brethren Church. 




t/(f^ry>y'- '///t^ ' ft>\C' I *" 



WAYXE CO UN TV. 



4()U 



DC. KEAN. Aboxit the time of the 
Revolution tliere came from Ire- 
— " hiud to this country Neal and John 
Kean. brothers, who settled in or about 
Harrisburifh, Penn., John at one time 
keeping store in Harrisburgh, and Neal 
residing on a farm in Mifflin County, Penn. 
Thei'e were born to him and his wife, 
whose maiden name was Patty Keiden, 
nine children: George, Charles, William, 
Joseph, Elizabeth, Catherine, Polly, Mar- 
garet and Rebecca. Of these, Joseph 
married Sophia "White, and about 1800 
moved west to the Ohio River, where a 
family of eijjht children were born to 
them, as follows: William, Elizabeth, 
Joseph, John, Ann, Cathei-ine, Sophia and 
Kearns. 

William Kean came in 1818 to Wayne 
County, Ohio, and settled with his father, 
Joseph Kean, on a farm in Plain Town- 
ship, where were born to him six children, 
viz.: Dewitt C, sketch of whom follows; 
Sophia, wife of E. G. Ebriglit, near 
Shreve, this county; Anner, with her 
sister near Shreve; Augustus C, now on 
a farm in Clinton Township, this county; 
John, who died in the army during the 
Rebellion, ami Tamar, wife of A. B. Old- 
roid, near Shreve. 

D. C. Kean, a prominent farmer of 
Plain Township, was born on the farm 
whereon he now resides, April 14, 1832, 
a son of William Kean, who came from 



Pennsylvania about 1818, and settled in 
Plain Township. He was reared in his 
native township, and, being of a literary 
turn of mind, acquired a good education, 
then began teaching when a young man. 
a vocation he pursued until about five 
years since. He has also been success- 
fully engaged in farming, owns a beautiful 
home, and is one of the well-to-do farmers 
of the township. Mr. Kean was married 
in 1854 to Mary Elizabeth Brubaker, of 
Ashland County, Ohio, and they have 
seven children: William F., born Feb- 
ruary 9, 1855, an attorney, of Wooster; 
George E., born August 12, 185G, a farmer 
and school-teacher near Springville, Plain 
Township, having been educated at the 
University of Wooster; Oliu L., M. D., 
born December 22, 1858, practicing his 
])rofession at Creston, this county (is sur- 
geon for the Wheeling & Lake Erie Rail- 
road, and is patentee of a local anjesthetic 
for the painless extraction of teeth. ) ; 
Gertrude, born January 12, 18()0, resid- 
ing at home; Orange J., born September 
18, 1864, on the farm; Lura B., born 
March 5, 1866, at home, following the 
profession of teaching, being a graduate 
of the University of Wooster; and Estella,. 
born June 8, 1874, at home. For eight- 
een years Mi's. Kean has been unable to 
attend to the cares of her home, being 
disabled by rheumatism. Mr. and Mrs. 
Kean are members of the Methodist Epis- 



470 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



copal Church, and are among its most 
liberal supporters; he is a Eepublicau. 




F. KEAN, a well-known young 
lawyer of Wooster, is a native of 
— ' the county, born in Plain Town- 
ship February 9, 1855, on a farm which 
had been taken up by his great-grand- 
father, Joseph Kean, one of the pioneers 
of the county. His father now owns and 
lives upon that farm, which was his 
birthplace also. The grandparents came 
from Pennsylvania at a very early day, 
and both passed the remainder of their 
lives in this county. The grandfather, 
William Kean, grew to manhood on the 
home farm, and married Elizabeth, daugh- 
ter of Samuel and Jane Case, both of 
whom are deceased. Dewitt C. Kean, 
father of our subject, has made the farm 
his life-long home. His wife is Mary, 
daughter of George and Elizabeth Bru- 
baker, of Pennsylvania, she having come 
to Ashland County with her parents when 
three years old. 

The subject of these lines made his 
Lome on the farm until he was about 
twenty-one years of age. He was edu- 
cated in the Smithville Academy and in 
the school at Shreve, and later in the 
University at Wooster, whence he gradu- 
ated in ISSl. Deciding on entering the 



profession of law, he studied in the office 
of McClure cfc Smyser, and was admitted 
to the bar in June, 1886, since when he 
has been practicing in Wooster. In 1883 
Mr. Kean was mari'ied to Alice A. Smith, 
of Ashland County, Ohio, born in 1855, 
at Hayesville, where she received a good 
education, particularly in music. Three 
children came to our subject and wife, 
two deceased in infancy, and Clara E.. 
born January 29, 1889. Mr. and Mrs. 
Kean are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and he is associated 
with the Knights of the Maccabees. He 
is justly regarded as a rising young citizen 
of the county, of irreproachable character 
and habits, and one who has a bright 
future before liim. 



WJLLIAM W. WELD AY is a son 
of Abraham and Mary (Foster) 
-^ -■ Welday. Abraham Welday, the 
grandfather of William W., and who was 
a native of Jefferson County, Ohio, settled 
in Milton Township, Wayne County, at 
an early da)', where he lived until his 
death. The father of William W. was 
born in Milton Township, AVaj'ue County, 
in 1831, and after his marriage purchased 
a farm near Amwell, afterward engaging 
in farming in Medina County. lu 1883 
he moved into Seville, where he com- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



471 



menced the business of buying horses 
aud tobacco. His family cousisted of six 
chihlreu, viz.: Frank, in Burbank, mar- 
ried to Miss Alice Heywood (they have 
three children — Oriu, Mary and Ellen) ; 
William W. ; Charles, living with AVilliam 
W. : Leslie, Effie and Koy, at home. 

Thesubjectof this biographical memoir 
was born iu Milton Township, Wayne 
County, Ohio, May 4, 18(50, and in 1881 
was married to Miss Clara, daughter of 
Alfred Gleaner, of Sterling. Mr. aud 
Mrs. AVelday have two children — Lula 
and Bessie. In 1887 Mr. Welday pur- 
chased a farm of forty-two acres in Canaan 
Township, this county, where he lived 
two years, and then sold, he and his 
brother Charles buying the old homestead 
in Guilford Township, Medina County, 
where they carry on farming, and pay 
considerable attention to the raising and 
breeding of Percheron-Normau horses. 
William W. Welday is a Democrat. 



THEODORE A. KRYSHEE, retired 
merchant, Smithville, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, is the only .sou of Daniel and 
Cassiah (Bowman) Kryshei', natives 
of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Krysher's father 
went from his lioiue in the Cumberland 
Valley to Lexington, Ky., to purchase a 
tract of several hundred acres of liuid, but 



was there taken ill, died and was buried. 
His wife, Anna Bowman, lived to the ex- 
treme age of ninety-four years and one 
mouth, dying at the home of her daughter, 
mother of our subject, in Smithville, May 
10, 1868. 

Daniel Krysher was born in Cumber- 
land County, Peun., January 8, 1801. 
He was educated to mercantile pursuits, 
and first embarked in business for himself 
in Mechanicsburgh, iu that county, iu 
partnership with David Bernheiser. On 
the dissolution of their partnership he 
removed to Kingstown, in the same coun- 
ty. From there he went to Churchtown. 
where he built a fine brick residence and 
a large stone building, where for eight- 
een years he carried on a successful busi- 
ness. He was married while iu Mechan- 
icsburgh, and his wife's relatives being 
mostly settled in Wayne County, Ohio, 
he removed here, buying a farm adjoining 
Smithville. He also bought out the gen- 
eral store of Paul & Zimmerman, in 
Smithville, and taking his son Theodore 
into partnership, under the firm name of 
D. Krysher & Sou, they there conducted 
a successful business for five years, the 
management of tiie concern being entirely 
in Theodore's hands. The father died in 
the house where the son now lives, De- 
cember 0, 1885, aged eighty-five years. 
Mr. Krysher never sought office or noto- 
riety, but was jiostmaster at Churchtown, 



472 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Penu., for eighteen years. He was of a 
quiet disposition, honest and trustworthy, 
beloved and respected by all who knew 
him, and his death was sincerely mourned, 
although he had reached a ripe old age. 
His marriage took place in 1828, Miss 
Cassiah Bowman becoming his wife. She 
was born August 20, 1806, in York 
County, Penn., on a farm close to the 
lines of Cumberland and Dauphin Coun- 
ties. She died June 23, 1885, a few 
months prior to her husband, and their 
remains are laid side by side in Oak Hill 
Cemetery, at Wooster, Ohio. Mrs. Kry- 
sher was a woman of a very lovable char- 
acter. She was a bright example of a 
Christian lady, kind, generous and hospi- 
table, always ready to help the poor, the 
unfortunate and the distressed, relieving 
their wants and speaking kind words of 
comfort and hope. She had hosts of 
friends, and not an enemy in the world. 
A faithful wife and devoted mother, her 
decease was mourned not only by her 
relatives, but also by a large circle of 
friends, to whom she was greatly en- 
deared. Daniel Krysher and wife had 
one son, Theodore A., and two daughters, 
Mary Ann (wife of Cyrus Bowman, who 
owns the Cedar Valley Distillery, at 
Wooster, Ohio) and Adeline Elizabeth 
( wife of Moses Morrett, who is connected 
with the Snow Flake Mill, at Wooster). 
Theodore A., the subject of this sketch, 



was born in Mechanicsburgh, Penn., March 
15, 1829. When of suitable age he en- 
tered his father's store, at Churchtown, as 
salesman, in which capacity he remained 
until he was twenty -one years old, and in 
1851, when twenty-two years of age, came 
with his parents to Smithville. As stated, 
he was in business, in partnership with 
his father, for five years. Selling out in 
185G, he and J. S. Paul bought the 
property in Greene Township known as 
the old Ruble farm. Farming that year 
was not profitable, owing to the weevil, 
which eat up the wheat, and he sold out 
to his partner, one year's experience of 
agricultural life satisfying him. He then 
engaged in dealing in horses and other 
stock, having a partner in Cincinnati. 
While in this business he spent five years 
in Kentucky, and during the Civil War 
sold many horses to the Government. 
Here he met the great misfortune of his 
life. In Lexington he was attacked by a 
drunken man, who stabbed him in the 
left ej'e, and also in the back of the head. 
The latter wound was thought to be very 
dangerous, but it healed all right; the cut 
in the eye, however, caused loss of siglit 
in that organ. His other eye troubling 
him, on his return to Ohio he consulted 
an oculist, in the hope of getting relief. 
He was advised to have the eye extracted, 
but instead of bettering the other eye, to- 
tal blindness was the result. Notwith- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



473 



stauJing this affliction, Mr. Krysher bns 
preserved au equable frame of mind, and 
bears his misfortune uncomplainingly, be- 
ing more cheerful than many who have 
much less cause to repine, and he attends 
personally to all his own affairs, besides 
tiiking a somewhat prominent part in pub- 
lic matters. 

Mr. Krysher has always been a stanch 
Democrat, and both before and since his 
loss of sight has been a valuable worker 
for his party. Though often urged, he 
would never consent to hold public office, 
but his party associates have insisted on 
his being a delegate to almost every con- 
vention in the district. State, congressional, 
senatorial, judicial, etc., where he made 
his influence largely felt, and he has 
always been active in advocating his par- 
ty's principles. A man of much more 
than ordinary intelligence, and uncom- 
monly well read, of keen and shrewd 
judgment, Mr. Krysher is constantly 
consulted by his neighbors, who have 
come to rely upon his advice in all 
complicated matters, the position of ad- 
viser being one for which his eai'ly read- 
ing of the law eminently fits him. He 
continues to live in the old home in Smith- 
ville, and to-da}- takes as much interest in 
the welfare of the country as i^efore his 
loss of sight, having the leading journals 
read to him, and keeping well posted as 
to iill public affairs. 



r JfENBY C. TEAGLE, son of WiU- 
IpI iam and Kuth (Porter) Teagle, 
1/ -^ was born in Franklin Township, 
Wayne County, Ohio, in 1851. 
William Porter, his maternal grandfather, 
was a native of England (where he mar- 
j ried Deborah Salster), and from there 
came to America, locating in Canaan 
I Township, Wayne County, Ohio, wliere 
i he became a farmer and lived the re- 
j mainder of his life. He had one son 
j who died in the English army, and 
three other children, who came to America 
with him, viz. : Sarah, Kuth and Charles. 
Of these, Sarah (now deceased) married 
Thomas Gary, of Defiance County, Ohio, 
a prominent farmer and representative 
man; Charles began life in an humble 
way, but by integrity, ability and per- 
severance acquired a handsome compe- 
tency (he died in 1875); Euth mar- 
ried William Teagle in 1849, and they 
located in Franklin Township, this county, 
where he followed his trade of mason. 
He acquired his education in England, 
by attending night schools, married in 
America, and reared a family of six 
j children: Henry C. and Lavina (twins), 
George, AVilliam, Eliza Anna and Mag- 
gie Bell. Of these, George nmrried Ar- 
j tilla Stanford, and removed to Michigan, 
where they now live; William married 
and located at Creston, this county; Eliza 
Anna is now Mrs. Daiiiol Maiionv, also of 



474 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Creston; Lavina married John Zimmer- 
man, and now lives at Tate, Pickens County, 
Ga., where he is superintendent of a mar- 
ble quarry. 

Henry C, the subject of these lines, re- 
ceived a rudimentary education in the 
schools of Wayne County, and when ten 
years of age went to live with William 
H. Keys, with whom he remained until 
he was twenty-one years of age. He aft- 
erward embarked in the business of pho 
tography, and March 10, 1875, he mar 
ried Louisa J., daughter of Elias Stone, . 
of Ked Haw, Ashland County, Ohio. In 
1870 he located in Shreve, this county, 
where for some time he was engaged in 
the retail trade; in 1884 he accepted a 
position with the well-known house of 
George W. Cady & Co., wholesale dealers 
in boots and shoes, of Cleveland, Ohio, 
and by application, industry, perse- 
verance and sterling integrity he now re- 
ceives a handsome salary; in fact he is on 
the highway to unqualified success. 

Social and genial, Mr. Teagle partakes 
largely of the pleasures of life, and he 
finds pre-eminent pride and pleasure in 
his family circle, where he is joyfully 
welcomed home from his trips (for his 
position is that of traveler for the firm) 
by Minnie and Hattie, his only children. 
He is a Republican in politics, a public 
speaker of no little note, and during po- 
litical campaigns his services are in mucli 



demanil. The Grand Army of the Ke- 
public, in their choice of Mr. Teagle, 
give evidence of their appreciation of his 
wit and ability. Mr. Teagle is a member 
of the Royal Arcanum, of Garfield Lodge, 
F. & A. M., of Shreve, and the Commer- 
cial Travelers' Association of Cleveland. 




TCHARD PARKER REDICK, 

L a resident of Wayne County since 
1819, was born in Beaver County, 
Penu., August 24,1809,toJohnHoge 
and Eliza (Forbes) Redick, former of 
Scotch descent, and a native of Washing- 
ton County, Penn., a teacher and hatter 
by occupation, latter a daughter of Thomas 
Forbes, and born near Carlisle, Penn. 
Their wedded life was blessed with seven 
children, of whom four now live, as fol- 
lows: Richard P., Maria (now Mrs. John 
Nagle, in Wayne Township, Wayne Co., 
Ohio) ; John Irving (born July 29, 1828, 
now president of a bank at Los Angeles, 
Cal. ), and William (in Montana). The 
mother of tliis family passed from earth 
in Wayne Township, this county, about 
1829, the father, September 13, 1857. 
They lived the lives of hardy pioneers, 
and from a dense forest hewed out for 
themselves a comfortable home. When 
our subject was a small child his parents 
removed to New Lisbon, Columbiana Co., 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



475 



Oliio, where they resided six years, and 
then in 1819 moved to Cadiz, Harrison 
County, same State, and here lived two 
years ; then came to Wayne County, where 
they spent the remainder of their days. 

Their son, whose name heads this 
memoir, received but a meager education, 
and for a time worked in his father's 
printing office. His mother dying when 
he was about nineteen years of age, and 
his father being of a weakly constitution, 
almost the entire charge of his brothers 
and sisters fell upon him, he being the 
eldest of the family; so at home he labored 
hard and kept the family together until 
he was twenty-eight years of age. One 
bitter cold winter evening, w-hen the 
snow lay deep upon the ground, they ran 
out of provisions, and our subject started 
off with two bushels of buckwheat, on an 
old horse, to have it ground at Mill brook, 
six miles south of Wooster. Reaching the 
mill, he found he could get no grinding 
done, so had to take his grist to a new 
mill, one-half mile farther south. On his 
wav thither the bag-string came off, let- 
ting the" buckwheat run out on the road, 
and he had to gather it up as best he could, 
although his hands were nearly frozen. 
Having once more got his grist into the 
sack, Mr. Redick had to carry it to a stump 
from which to mount his horse. Reaching 
the mill without further mishap, he had 
it ground, but was unable to get it bolted 



at that mill, so had to ride back to another 
one at Wooster, where, being by this 
time about frozen through, he had to stand 
on the top of a Hour barrel and bolt it by 
hand, in order to get home in time for 
breakfast. He finallj- reached home at 
daylight on the morning after he had left 
home for the mill. 

When about twenty-eight years of age 
Mr. Redick became united in marriage 
with Catherine Cresler, a native of near 
Shippensburgh, Penn., but she died after 
two years of married life, leaving one 
child, Catherine, who lived to be thirty- 
three years old, when she too passed to 
her long home. Mr. Redick took for 
his second spouse Maria Cresler, a sister 
of his deceased wife, who bore him three 
children, viz. : John and Henrietta, liv- 
ing on the home farm, and Richard 
Parker, a minister in the Lutheran 
Church, who died at Mansfield, Ohio, in 
1884, leaving a widow and one child, who 
now reside near Millbrook, Wayne Co., 
Ohio. March 29, 1877, Mrs. Redick de- 
parted this life. For several j'ears Mr. 
Redick resided in Wooster, engaged in 
the dry goods trade, but this he sold out 
and retired to the farm. His success in 
life is due entirely to his own individual 
energy and assiduous application to busi- 
ness, and his health and strengtii have 
never been impaired by the use of either 
tobacco or liquor. He cleared almost 



476 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



his entire farm of 250 acres, aud to-day, 
at the age of about eighty years, is still 
able to do a good day's work. In 1852 
he took a contract to build three miles of 
the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was the 
first work to be commenced on the road 
and the first to be completed. He sold 
to the city of Wooster the land where the 
West Dam is situated, and in 1852, at a 
cost of $10,000, constructed the dam. 
Politically Mr. Redick was originally a 
Democrat, his first vote being j^olled for 
Andrew Jackson, but he has been a Repub- 
lican since the formation of that party. 



IMON LEHMAN, the youngest son 
in the family of David aud Susan 
(Kintner) Lehman, was born in 
1849. He received his education at 
Smithville, this county, and when twenty- 
two years of age commenced contracting 
for buildings, teaching school during 
winters. He thus continued nine years, 
aud then came to the old homestead in 
Wayne Township, where he at present 
resides; his aged mother (now seventy- 
nine years old) making her home with 
him. 

At the age of tweuty-two Mr. Lehman 
married Emily Speicher, who has borne 
him seven children, as follows: Eldo, Os- 
car, Stella, Mabel, Bovd, Jessie and Beu- 



lah, all at home. Mr. Lehman is a Pro- 
hibition-Democrat, and is at present 
township clerk. Both he and his wife 
are members of the U. B. Church. 



JAMES L. GRAY was a native of 
Milton, Northumberland County, 
Penn., born in 1832, of parents who 
immigrated to that State many years ago. 
His father was of Scotch and his motlier 
of German ancestry. The mother dying 
while he was quite young, James L. was 
brought up by his uncle, Samuel Blain, 
on a farm near Milton, Penn. At the 
age of sixteen he began life for him- 
self, first obtaining a jjosition as clerk 
on a Mississippi River steamboat. He 
followed steamboatiug for about three 
years, sailing on all the navigable rivers 
tributary to the Mississippi, during which 
time he made a trip to the Yellowstone 
Valley, in quest of furs. Returning to 
Milton, Penn., he served an apprentice- 
ship at the saddler's trade, after which 
he located at New Brighton, Penn. Here 
he met and afterward married Miss Eunice 
Magaw, a talented young lady of Beaver 
County, Penn., and soon after his mar- 
riage removed with his wife to Wooster, 
Wayne Co., Ohio, where he engaged 
in business. In 18()4, responding to his 
countr3''8 call for aid. he enlisted in Com- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



pauy E, One Huiulied uud Sixt3--i)iiith 
Ohio Volunteer Iiifautry, and served iu 
tbe Army of the Potomac, being a part 
of the time in tlie quartermaster's depart- 
ment. Returning to Wooster after the 
war, he was for a time liere enjjafjed as 
sui)erintendent of the Home Mills, and iu 
1S75 established himself as a dealer in 
coal, lime, cement and builders' supplies, 
wliieh business he carried on successfully 
\iY> to the time of his death. He died 
June 8, 1S86, at the age of fifty-four 
year.s, highly esteemed by all who knew 
him. 

He was a Republican in politics, and 
took a great interest in all political ques- 
tions. He served for a number of years 
as a member of the volunteer fire de^iart- 
ment in his adopted city; was also a mem- 
ber of the I. O. O. F. and the G. A. R., 
and a leading member of the English 
Lutheran Church, serving as one of the 
building committee in the erection of the 
English Lutheran Tabernacle at Wooster, 
Ohio. His widow, since his death, has 
resided in Wooster, where she is favora- 
l)ly known as a membei- of the English 
Lutheran Church, and of the Woman's 
Relief Corps. James L. Graj' left five 
children — two sons and three daughters — 
all of whom reside in AV'ayne County. 

The eldest son, Charles M. Gray, after 
receiving a liberal education in the schools 
of his native city, engaged in business 



with Iiis lather, at first as an assistant, and 
finally as a partner. In 1885 he went to 
Galion, Ohio, where he established him- 
self in the milling business, iu which he 
remained until recalled to Wooster by his 
father's death. Since then, in partnership 

with his mother, 3Irs. J. L. Gray, he has 
I 
carried on the business established by his 

father, under its original name — Gray & 

Son. He is also manager of the Standard 

Oil Company's supply depot at Wooster. 

He is a F. & A. M., and a member of the 

Royal Arcanum; he is a Republican. 



, ylLLIAM Y. ARMSTRONG, a sou 

\lp^// of Thomas and Nancy (Thomas) 
— ' -^ Armstrong, was born in Burbauk, 
Canaan Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, July 
22, 1S44. His father died in Burbank, 
where he was one of the iironiinent old 
settlers. The family of Thomas and Nan- 
cy (Thomas) Armstrong consisted of 
eight children, viz.: Julian, Grace J., 
David, Delia, William Y., Lorette, Caro- 
line and Alice M., of whom David antl 
William V. are the only ones living; Grace 
J. died in 1857; Delia, in 180G, and Lor- 
ette, Caroline and Alice M., later. 

During the War of the Rebel! it)n Mr. 
Armstrong enlisted in the Sixteenth Ohio 
Infantry, and served three years undi'r 
Gen. Grant. Since his return home In^ 



478 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



has engaged iu farming, and now owns a 
good farm in Plain Township. He was 
married in IS 67 to Miss Vanluah Brandt, 
and to them have been born six children, as 
follows: Zoe Geraldine, Calvin, Jennie B., 
Maud Lenore, Don Cameron and Leo 
Tru. Mr. Armstrong and his family are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church ; in politics he is a Republican. 



JAMES B. TAYLOR. Perhaps iu 
j no business or profession is a man 
— more conspicuous or better known, or 
more popular or unpopular, as the case 
may be, than in the law. His talent soon 
is recognized, and he rises to distinction 
in the ranks of men, if by zeal and per- 
severance he merits it. James B. Taylor 
was born iu Fredericksburgh, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, August 2i, 18-40. His father, who 
was a native of Virginia, married a Quaker- 
ess, also a native of that State, and to- 
gether, in 1825, they came to Waj'ne 
County, and Mr. Taylor became a member 
of the Wooster bar. In 1873 he departed 
this life, at the age of seventy-two years, 
and iu 1878 his widow followed to her 
long last sleep. Their home was blessed 
with the birth of nine children, of whom 
James B. was the youngest. 

James B. Taylor, at the age of sixteen, 
became a school-teacher, in which pro- 



fession he continued in Wayne County 
during the winter months, attending to 
his own studies during the summer, at 
the Fredericksburgh (Ohio) Academy, 
until the fall of 1859, wheu he entered 
the junior class of Westminster College, 
Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 
June, 1861. The following fall he organ- 
ized and opened the Smithville Academy, 
which he carried on until August, 1862, 
when, responding to his country's call, 
he formed a company of all the able- 
bodied students under his charge, and 
prepared to go to the front, the remaining 
portion of the academy passing to the 
care of J. B. Eberly. Mr. Taylor entered 
the service as second lieutenant, and after- 
ward was promoted to the rank of first 
lieutenant; still later he was made cap- 
tain of Company H, One Hundred and 
Twentieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serv- 
ing until 1865. In that year this regi- 
ment, which had seen active service, was 
consolidated with the One Hundred and 
Fourteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantr}-, and 
as only one of six captains could remain, 
the lot fell upon Capt. Speer, the remain- 
ing five being mustered out. The regi- 
ment went to the front over 1,000 strong, 
and returned with less than 300 men. The 
Captain was with his command iu nearly 
all the battles fought for the opening of 
the Mississippi, from December, 1862, to 
1864, under Gens. Grant and Banks. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



479 



During the latter years of his military 
service Mr. Taylor read medicine and 
studied surgery, and in the spring of 
1865 he entered the office of Dr. Martin, 
at Fredericksburgh, Ohio, where he con- 
tinued until the fall of the same year, 
when he went to the University of Mich- 
igan, there to attend medical lectures. 
Soon after his arrival, however, he changed 
his life's plans, and matriculateil in the 
law department, graduating in the spring 
of 1867. He then returned to "Wayne 
County, and opened a law office at Orrville, 
where he practiced ixntil the spring of 
1882, when he finallj' located at Wooster. 
In February, 1888, he formed a law part- 
nership with ex-Probate Judge Isaac 
Johnson, which still continues. In 1868 
Mr. Taylor was married to Miss Emi- 
lie Emmitt, daughter of John Emmitt, 
and a native of Pennsylvania. To this 
union six children have been born, of 
whom three are now living. Mr. Taylor 
is a F. & A. M., and a member of the 
Presbyterian Church; he is a Republican. 



W 



ILLIAM H. H. SICHLEY, 

dealer in clothing, hats, caps and 
gents' furnishing goods, Woos- 
ter, is a well-known merchant of Wayne 
County, of which he is a native, having 
been born in Plain Township, June ij. 



1S37. His parents were Elias and Fannie 
(Schmuck) Sichley, the former born May 
18, 1812, in Dau[)hin County, Penn., and 
the latter near Mannheim, Lancaster 
County, same State, December 15, 1813. 
The maternal grandfather, who came to 
Wayne County from Pennsylvania in 1821', 
had been enrolled as a soldier in the War 
of 1812. When Elias was one year old 
his parents removed to Ohio, and there he 
was reared and educated. In 1829, when 
seventeen years of age, he attended a 
camp-meeting, where he was converted 
and embraced religion, joining the Evan- 
gelical Association. His whole heart was 
enlisted in the cause of the Master, and 
he soon felt a call to preach the gospel, to 
' which he resolved to dedicate his life. 
Preparing himself for his chosen work, 
he was assigned first to the Sandusky 
Circuit, and afterward to the Lancaster 
Circuit. His last appointment was to the 
Wooster Circuit, and here the zealous 
preacher of the Word labored until he 
was called to the reward which awaits 
those who do His will. 

In Wooster, Rev. Elias Sichley met 
liis future wife, then Miss Fannie 
Schmuck. tn whom he \V!is united in mar- 
riage February 12, 1836. She was. like 
her husband, a member of the Evangel- 
ical Association, with which she had united 
in early youth, and was in every way a 
fitting helpmate for her worthy husband. 



480 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Of their union seven children were born, 
four of whom are now deceased. Rev. 
Mr. Sichley labored faithfully and suc- 
cessfully in the cause of Christ until his 
death, which occurred February 9, 1874, 
and was perhaps hastened by his arduous 
labors, which had weakened his constitu- 
tion. He was sick only five days, the im- 
mediate cause of his dissolution being 
pneumonia. On his death-bed he ex- 
horted his children to be faithful and firm 
in the cause of religion, speaking of the 
reward of those who endure to the end, 
which reward he was himself soon to par- 
take of. To his sorrowing life-compan- 
ion he spoke words of wisdom and conso- 
lation, and his last breath was exhaled in 
prayer. Thus passed to the eternal life 
one who was a faithful worker in the 
Lord's vineyard — who had fought the 
good fight and endured to tlie end, and 
who entered into the presence of his Mas- 
ter bearing his sheaves with him. His 
life had been full of good works, and his 
death was that of the true Christian. On 
his death-bed he had expressed a desire 
to donate money to worthy objects which 
he had at heart, but was too weak to make 
a will. The family respected his wishes, 
and shortly after his death they gave, as 
was his desire, $1,000 to the cause of 
home missions, $1,000 to German missions 
and $1,000 to foreign missions, the funds 
to be permanently invested and only the 



interest to be used. His widow died in 
Chester Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, May 
11, 1887. For two years prior to her 
death she had been a great sufferer, but 
bore her afflictions with Christian forti- 
tude. The immediate cause of her death 
was heart trouble. When her true posi- 
tion was explained to her on her death- 
bed, the good Christian, viewing death 
but as the beginning of a better life, ex- 
claimed, "It will he soon over. Glory! 
Glory ! Glory ! " She was buried from the 
Sichley Church, on Lafayette Circuit, of 
which she had so long been a devout mem- 
ber, and her funeral sermon was preached 
from Psalm cxvi: 15. The services were 
largely attended by those who knew and 
loved her. 

Mr. and Mrs. Elias Sichley had seven 
children born to them, tiiree of whom are 
now living, all in Wayne County; the oth- 
ers are deceased. Two daughters are liv- 
ins: in this countv — Elizabeth Ann. wife 
of Ephraim P. Keck, and Melvina Malin- 
da, now Mrs. Breidenstein, of Chester 
Township. 

William H. H. Sichley, the subject of 
this memoir, when some three years of 
age was, out of respect to the Whig can- 
didate for the presidency, Gen. William 
H. Harrison, named for him. His early 
life was spent upon the farm, and he re- 
ceived the advantages of the common 
schools of the day. He remained at 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



l^l 



home until be was of age, and then 
turned his attention to the cooper's trade, 
at which he served an apprenticeship, and 
which he subsequently followed f<ir about 
tweuty-oue yeai's, during which time he 
resided upon the farm in Chester Town- 
ship. In 1878 he embarked iu the saw- 
mill business, at which he continued for 
some time. June 23, 1885, Mr. Sichley 
moved from the farm to Wooster, embark- 
ing in the business which he is now suc- 
cessfully conducting. He keeps a fine 
stock of goods, comparing favorably with 
those to be found in large cities, and is 
prospering. 

William H. H. Sichley and Elizabeth 
Ann Wyckoff were united in marriage, in 
Plain Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, in 
1860. She was the daughter of Peter 
and Maria Wj-ckoff, natives of New Jer- 
sey, where she also was born. The family 
came to Plain Township in 1849, and 
there the father died; the mother still re- 
sides there. Our subject and his wife 
have had four children (of whom three 
survive): Elmer W., on the home farm; 
Ora D. and Delphia Florence, at home, 
and Lillie May, who died when five months 
old. Mr. Sichley commenced compara- 
tively poor, but bis life of industry, hon- 
esty and frugality has brouglit its own 
reward, and to-day he is in possession of 
a competence, and with all the material 
comforts of life around him. He owns 



two finely improved farms in Wayne 
County, besides other property, and a tlmu- 
ishing business iu Wooster, and is one of 
the best known citizens of the county, 
having the confidence of all with whom 
he has been brought in contact. He 
and his wife are i-espected members of the 
Evangelical Church ; he is a member of 
the K. of P. and the I. O. O. F. ; polit- 
ically, a Republican. The twenty-thiril 
day of the* month seems to have been 
marked in his calendar for several remark- 
able coincidences. He was married on 
August 23, 18t)0; moved on October 23; 
his first child was born on May 23, 1801 ; 
he entered into his store, on South Mar- 
ket Street, June 23, 1885; removed his 
store into Frick Memorial Block October 
23, 1886; and removed his family to 
Wooster March 23, 1887 — a really curious 
chain of coincidences. 

Hiram F. S. Sichley, a brother of Will- 
iam H. H., was born September 20, 1841, 
and at the age of thirteen received relig- 
ion, and early resolved to devote himself 
to ministerial work. He studied at Greens- 
burg Seminary, and in 1862, at Sandusky, 
was received into the itineracy, in the 
Ohio Conference, and was sent to the 
Tuscarawas Circuit; the second year lie 
was transferred to the Richland Circuit, 
and the third year to the Pickaway Cir- 
cuit. He lost faith in his ability, and left 
the circuit, coming to his home in Wayne 



482 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Couuty. His father said to him, on his 
arrival: "Hiram, hitherto when you 
have come home you liave been wel- 
come, bat this time you are not," 
words which sunk deep in the young 
preacher's mind. The following winter 
he taught school, but soon, with renewed 
faith and zeal, returned to his ministerial 
labors, to which he dedicated himself 
anew, and in which he was remarkably 
successful. His first appointment now 
was to the Wayne Circuit, and from there 
he was transferred to the Bristol Circuit. 
At Akron, Ohio, he was engaged in mis- 
sionary work in South Akron, and from 
there was transferred to the English mis- 
sion at the city of Cleveland. That dread 
disease, consumption, had fastened upon 
him, but as louij as strength lasted he was 
zealous in his Master's service. 

Hiram F. S. Sichley was married March 
7, 18G2, to Miss Sarah Walkey, who pre- 
ceded him to the grave one year and 
fourteen days. On March 1, 1873, the 
summons came for him to join her on the 
other side. On the day of his death he 
was up and about as usual. At supper 
his father said to him: "Hiram, your end 
is probably nearer than you think it." 
He answered: "May be it is, I did not 
think God would answer my prayer so 
soon;" and in a few minutes thereafter 
the good and faithful servant had entered 
into his reward. He was an earnest and 



consisteTit Christian in life, and death 
found him prepared. His means he de- 
voted to church and charitable work; 
$4,000 was given for mission work in 
Europe; $4,000 for heathen missions; 
$2,000 for the support of missionaries; 
$2,000 for the erection of churches; 
$4,000 for home missions; $4,000 for the 
Ebenezer Orphans' Home, at Flat Rock, 
Ohio; $4,000 for the Union Biblical In- 
stitute, at Naperville, 111. ; the interest of 
$2,000 to educate poor young men for the 
ministry, and $2,000 for churches near 
his father's home. 




ARL MERZ, MUS. D. There 
is no more prominent figure in 
the educational field of music 

than the gentleman of whom we 
now write. He is a native of Germany, 
born September 10, 1836, at Bensheim, 
of musical and literary ancestry. His 
father being a public school-teacher as 
well as an accomplished musician, young 
Karl naturally enjoyed a liberal educa- 
tion, both in literature and in the " Art 
Divine," and in 1852 he graduated from 
a literary institution. He inherited a 
love for music, and his musical education 
commenced at an earlj' age, but was some- 
what limited and irregular. After gradu- 
ation Mr. Merz moved to Bin<ren on the 



WAYNE CO UN TV. 



483 



Ehiue, where he filled a government po- 
sition as teacher for awhile. 

Soon realizing, however, that he had no 
opportunities there for tiie development 
and advancement his spirit longed for, he 
decided to seek his fortune in the broader 
fields of America, and accordingly, in 
1S5-1-, he sailed for Piiiladelphia, where 
he arrived in Sejitember. Here he was 
engaged as organist in the Sixth Presby- 
terian Church, a position he retained one 
year; then accepted a place as teacher in 
an Episcopal school for young ladies, in 
Lancaster County, Penn., acting at the 
same time as organist in thevillasje church. 
During his stay in tliis retired spot Mr. 
Merz diligently studied and composed, j 
After this we find liiui teaching in tlie 
South, among other places in Harrison- 
burg and in Hollins' Institute, Virginia. 
"While visiting in the North the Civil AVar 
broke out, and this necessitated another 
change in location. At this time Mr. 
Merz occupied a position as teacher of 
music in the Oxford (Ohio) Female Col- 
lege, where he performed a vast amount 
of labor during his twenty-one years' 
incumbency, and here, in Oxford, many 
of his popidar works were composed. At 
the close of this college, in 1882, Mr. 
Merz accepted a call from the University 
of Wooster, Ohio, where he now fills the 
chair of director of music. In 1S50 he 
was married, in Lancaster County, Penn., 



to Miss Mary Riddle, of said county, who 
has borne liim three children, viz.: Harry 
Pinkney (deceased) ; Dr. Charles Hope, 
now a practicing physician in Sandusky, 
Ohio, and Bessie C, a teacher in Linden- 
wood Seminary, at St. Charles, Mo. 

Mr. Merz's wide reputation is undoubt- 
edly due to his numerous compositions. 
While he has written a great deal of music 
of a popular nature, he has produced 
many pieces chai-acterized by deep senti- 
ment and pure style, among whicli may 
be mentioned his " Sonata," " Nocturnes," 
an " Elegy " and a " Caprice," besides 
songs, choruses, and his ever popular op- 
erettas and waltzes. In 1873 he became 
editor-in-chief of the " Musical World "" 
(his first connection with that journal 
having commenced in 1868), a position 
he yet fills, and is eminently fitted for. 
In connection with his musical work Mr. 
Merz has also been active as a lecturer on 
kindred topics, by which he has done 
much good in setting fortli the high mis- 
I sion of his chosen art. Though Mr. Merz 
was well educated while young, it must be 
said of him, as a musician, editor, com- 
poser and lecturer, tliat he is a self-made 
man, who, through mucli study and pa- 
tient labor, has developed his powers and 
attained the higli degree of honor and es- 
teem which ho now holds in tlie world of 
music. Ho is in the prime of life, an act- 
ive and inilefatigable worker. In dispo- 



484 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



sitiou he is kind, charitable and generous, 
and has formed many lasting friendships 
wherever he has lived. 



V T^ENEY MUNSON, the youngest 
'^^\ surviving son of Henry and Mary 
-^ (Cutter) Munson, was born on the 
homestead which he now owns in 
Franklin Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
February 15, 1S37. He received a dis- 
trict school education, and has always 
been engaged in farming. In 1861 he 
married Miss Eebecca, daughter of John 
Jones, of Holmes County, Ohio, and she 
died in 1874, leaving four children, viz.: 
John, living at home; Ellsworth, in Ne- 
braska, and James and William, at home. 
Mr. Munson was again married, on this 
occasion, in 1876, to Miss Martha Mc- 
Cartney, daughter of Craig McCartney, 
of Holmes County, Ohio, and to this 
union has been born one child, Maud, who 
is still at home. Mr. Munson was drafted 
in 1802, and taken as far as Mansfield, 
Ohio, where he hired a substitute. Like 
all of his family, he is a Democrat, and 
has held the office of trustee and super- 
visor of his township. Our subject and 
family are members of the Fredericksburgh 
Methodist Episcopal Church, he holding 
the office of trustee at the present time. 




,ILLIAM W. BROWN, son of 
John Buckuer and Mary (Mor- 
gan) Brown, was born on the 
farm now owned by Ralston B. Brown, in 
Clinton Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
March 23, 1815. Thomas Brown, his 
grandfather, a native of Aai'ginia, was a 
soldier during the War of the Revolu- 
tion. His children were Elizabeth, John 
B., George, Lydia, Samuel B., William, 
Mary Ann and Thomas F., all now de- 
ceased. John B. was reared and educated 
in Loudoun County, Va., where he mar- 
ried Mary Morgan ; they then located in 
West Virginia, where two children were 
born to them: Ann, born November 28, 
1811, died August 12, 1812, and George 
H., born April 4, 1813, died in 1844. 

In 1813 J. B. Brown removed to Clin- 
ton Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, and pur- 
chased the southeast quarter of Section 
20, Township IS, Range 14, where the 
rest of his children were born, named: 
William W., Hugh M. (born October 14, 
1810, and married to Margaret Neely, in 
1839, both deceased), Thomas A., born 
June 22, 1818, and married to Mary 
Bird, residing in Clinton Township, 
Wayne County; Rebecca Ann, born Feb- 
ruary 25, 1820, died in infancy; Jolin, 
born October 25, 1822, married to Rhoda 
Newkirk, died in Shreve, April 19, 1889; 
Mercy, born December 19, 1823, died in 
infancy; Stephen, born August 8, 1826, 





iyio-<4^^ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



487 



married to Martha M. EitHe, who has 
since dietl, he is still a resident of Clinton 
Township; Mary Ann, born August 25, 
1828, now Mrs. James K. Campbell, of 
Riplej' Township, Holmes Co., Ohio; 
Isaac, now a resident of Ripley Township, 
Holmes Co., Ohio, married to Elizabeth 
McConkey, deceased, and Samuel E., 
a resident of Firth, Neb. 

William W. was raised and educated in 
Clinton Township, and April G, 1837, he 
married Phebe, daughter of James Lee, 
of Ripley Township, Holmes Co., Ohio. 
They located on the farm he now owns in 
Clinton Township (his present residence) 
and engaged in farming. To them ten 
children were born: Elias, born Decem- 
ber 2, 1838, married to Sarah J. Numbers, 
October 2, 1862, is now a farmer of 
Kidder, Mo. ; James, born April 13, 1840, 
married to Mary J. McCleve, and died 
June 23, 1869; Hugli M., born Septem- 
ber 18, 184:1, married first to Elmira 
Merkle, and next to Agnes J. Barcus, he 
died November 1, 1887: Caroline, boin 
March 23, 1813, married to John H. 
Batdortf, who is engaged in the saw-mill 
business at Liberty Center, Henry Co., 
Ohio; William Wesley, born March 2, 
1845, died July 25, 1877; Mary M., born 
October 20, 1846, now Mrs. James Kerr, 
of Clinton Township; Millard Fillmore, 
bom November 12, 1848, married to 
Hadessa McMillen, and died November 



9, 187!t. she died December 31, 1886; 
David, born September 21, 1851, married 
to Effie McFadden, is now a farmer of 
Clinton Township; Stephen, born Febru- 
ary 2, 1854, married to Mary Keiflfer, is 

I now a farmer of Clinton Township; 

: Phebe E., born July 25, 1857, now Mrs. 
Mehan Richey, of Clinton Township. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brown lived together 
on the old homestead until her decease, 
July 17, 1886; she was a member of the 
Methodist Church. Mr. Brown is a mem- 
ber of the Disciples Church; political 
honors have been thrust upon him ; he 
was justice of the peace fifteen years; 
trustee of the township nearly one-fourth 
of the time, and, what is most of all re- 
markable, school director fifty successive 
years. Mr. Brown is now seventy-three 
years of age, and has witnessed the 
growth and development of the county 
from a wilderness, there being but six 
log cabins in Clinton Township on his ar- 
rival here. He is a stanch Republican, 
having voted for Harrison in 1840, and 
the grandson in 1888. 



ROWN FAMILY. In tracing tho 
genealogy of the Brown family of 
Wayne County, Ohio, we find that 
the first of whom we have any record was 
William Brown, who was born in Prince 




488 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



William County, Va., in 1722, o£ Irish 
parentage, and died in 1806. He married 
a widow, Sealthy (Asher) Buckner, who 
had two children, John Anthony, and one 
whose name we are unable to ascertain. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Brown were born three 
children, John, Thomas and Rebecca; 
John died unmarried; Rebecca married a 
man named Cornell, and moved to Fred- 
erick County, Va., and there closes the 
record we have of her. 

Thomas Brown, the second son, was 
born in Prince "William County, Va., in 
1760, married, October 20, 1785, Nancy 
Ash, and in 1805 moved from Fauquier 
County, Va., to Monongalia (now Pres- 
ton) County, W. Va., where Mrs. Brown 
died soon after, and Mr. Brown in 1844. 
They had a family of eight children, the 
record of whom as we give it was fur- 
nished by W. T. Brown, of Grafton, W. 
Va., and was copied from an old book of his 
grandfather's, owned by his aunt, Betsey 
Cartwright: Elizabeth, was born August 
11, 1786; John Buckner, January 28, 
1788; George, November 14, 1789; Lydia, 
October 22, 1791 ; Samuel Byrne, Octo- 
ber 24, 1793; William, March 6, 1796; 
Mary Ann, October 26, 1797, and Thomas 
F'rancis, May 4, 1801. 

Elizabeth Brown, the eldest of this 
family, died June 23, 1867. She was 
twice married, her first husband being 
Stevens, and to them were born two 



children: Marry B., born November 10, 
1811, in Monongalia County, W. Va., 
married Susan Foster, and died Decem- 
I ber 16, 1844; Anna M., born June 15, 
1813, married Thomas Protzman, and 
died March 21, 1887. Her second hus- 
band, Isaac Cartwright, was born in Mor- 
gantown, W. Va., and died March 5, 
1865. They had four children, as follows: 
William B., born January 1, 1823, mar- 
ried Margaret Mourton, September 4, 
1846, and now lives at Flatwoods, Braxton 
Co., W. Va.; Thomas F., born October 
17, 1825, was married September 26, 
1854, to Rebecca Cortlo, and died April 
16, 1879, in Howard City, Elk Co., Kas., 
at the age of fifty-three years, five months, 
thirty days, his wife having preceded him 
September 9, 1878, at the age of forty- 
seven years, eleven months, twenty-four 
days; Mary M., born January 2, 1827, 
was married to A. C. Hill, February 1, 
1849, and now lives at Golden, Barry 
Co., Mo.; Marinda R., born November 
10, 1831, was married May 22, 1873, to 
Wilson Darling, in Stewardtown, Monon- 
galia Co., W. Va. 

The record of the children of Thomas 
F. Cartwright is as follows: Marinda C, 
born November 2, 1855, died November 
2, 1858; America A., born January 10, 

1856, married Fitts, died February 

24, 1888; John E., born December 19, 
1859, died December 8, 1883; James E., 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



489 



born October 12, 18(51, died September 
2(i, 1862; Elizabeth L. V., born March 
12, 1864, in DeKalb County, Mo.; Per- 
melia M., born June 4, 1860, died Novem- 
ber 2, 1867; Lee E., born March 14, 
1868, lives in DeKalb County, Mo. ; Will- 
iam C, born March 13, 1870, died August 
30, 1870; Mary Frances, born March 13, 
1870, died September 14, 1870. 

The record of the children of Alexan- 
der C. and Mary M. (Cartwriorht) Hill is 
as follows: Joseph Elara, born Novem- 
ber 20, 1849, married Esther Hurst 
March 28, 1879, lives in Livingston 
County, Mo. ; Elizabeth Lowery, born 
April 5, 1851, married George W. Davis 
April 24, 1873, lives in Barry County, 
Mo. ; Sarah Anna, born November 30, 
1852, married Edman T. Taylor, Febru- 
ary 0, 1878, lives in Livingston County, 
Mo. ; Isaac Scott, born June 14, 1857, 
died December 13, 1857; Benjamin F. W., 
born December 3, 1858, married Ledonia 
J. Houff, October 12, 1882, lives in 
Barry County, Mo. ; Isadora Amberzine, 
bor7i June 30, 1803, married C. E. Free- 
man, September 26, 1886, lives in Car- 
roll County, Ark. ; Mary Esmarelda, born 
April 15, 1800, lives in Barry County, 
Mo. 

John Buckneu Bkown, the ohloBt son 
of Thomas and Nancy (Ash) Brown, was 
born in Loudoun County, Va., and moved 
from there to Wayne County, Ohio, in 



1813, in company with Jacob Funk and 
family, arriving in Clinton Township 
September 17. He located on the farm 
now owned by Ralston B. Brown, where 
he died September 25, 1855, and was 
buried in the Baptist cemetery, near the 
James Campbell farm. He married Mary 
Morgan, who died in July, 1850, and was 
buried beside her husband. They had a 
family of twelve children: Ann, born 
November 28, 1811, died August 12, 
1812; George Harrison, born April 4, 
1813, died in 1844; William W., born 
j March 23, 1815; Hugh Morgan, born Oc- 
tober 14, 1816, died June, 1868 ; Thomas 
A., born June 22, 1818 ; Rebecca A., 
born February 25, 1820, died in infancy; 
John, born October 25, 1822, died April 
19, 1889; Mercy, born December 19, 
1823, died in infancy; Stephen, born Au- 
gust 8, 1820; Mary Ann, born August 
25, 1828; Isaac, born April 3, 1831, 
and Samuel Ellery, born August 12, 
1833. 

George Brown, the second son of 
Thomas and Nancy (Ash) Brown, mar- 
ried, ami Iiiid five children: John and 
Bailey, two sons who were killed by Con- 
federates at the outset of the Civil War — 
Bailey while guarding a bridge near 
Grafton, W. Va., the first Union man 
killed in West Virginia, in 1861; 
Marj' married a man by the name of 
James Funk, residence, Newburgh, W. 



490 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Va. ; Anna, married, but history not 
furnished; Ellen, married William Bart- 
lett, residence. Point Pleasant, W. Va. 

Samuel B. Brown, the third son of 
Thomas and Nancy (Ash) Brown, mar- 
ried Termeline Ziun, and to them were 
born ten children: Ashford, of Webster, 
Taylor Co., W. Va. ; Lycurgus, of Glades- 
ville, Preston Co., W. Va. ; William B., 
of Lyon, W. Va. ; Granville, of Halleck, 
Monongalia, Co., W. Va. ; Marciatious J., 
of Gladesville ; Clarissa B., wife of George 
Stoyer, of Oakland, Garrett Co., Md. ; 
Anna Melia (or Anamela), Elizabeth, Lo- 
retta and Sarah Anne. 

Thomas Francis Brown, the youngest 
son of Thomas and Nancy (Ash) Brown, 
married Elizabeth Zinn, and to them were 
born six children: Adaline, born July 
9, 1831, married W. J. Morgan, of Hills- 
boro, Ohio, and died June 13, 1868 ; Buck- 
ner B., born November 6, 1832, lives at 
Reedsville, W. Va. ; William T., born Jan- 
uary 7, 1835, near Gladesville, W. Va., 
lives at Grafton, W. Va. ; Charles M.,born 
January 28, 1837, married Harriet Fair- 
fax, and died November 26, 1868 ; Virgil S., 
born October 15, 1838, in Preston County, 
W. Va., and lives at Garrison, Mo. ; Chloe 
N., born August 15, 1841, died October 5, 
1865. The three members of this family 
who have died are buried at Independence, 
W. Va. The family history of Lydia, 
William and Mary Ann, three of the family 



of Thomas and Nancy (Ash) Brown, has 
not been furnished us. 

[We have thus briefly sketched three genera- 
tions of the Brown family as far as able to ascer- 
tain facts, and this brings us to the fourth genera- 
tion, which we are able to give more at length] 

George Harrison Brown, eldest son of 
John B. and Mary (Morgan) Brown, mar- 
ried Rebecca Hull, and to them were born 
two children: Lucy Ellen, wife of John- 
son Battles, of Nokomis, 111. and Mary 
Esther, wife of Dr. Ferrell, of Columbus, 
Ohio. After the death of Mr. Brown his 
widow married Uriah White. 

William W. Brown, second son of 
John B. and Mary (Morgan) Brown, lives 
at Shreve, Ohio. He was married April 
6, 1837, to Phebe Lee, who died July 17, 
1886, and they had a family of ten chil- 
dren: Elias, of Kidder, Mo., born Decem- 
ber 22, 1838, and married October 2, 
1862, to Sarah J. Numbers; James, born 
April 13, 1840, married Mary J. McCleve, 
and died June 23, 1809; Hugh M., born 
September 18, 1841, and married Elmira 
Merkle, who died and he afterward married 
Agnes J. Barcus; Caroline, born March 
23, 1843, married September, 1865, to 
John BatdorfP; William Wesley, born 
March 2, 1845, died July 25, 1877; Mary 
Margaret, born October 20, 1846, married 
James Kerr; Millard Fillmore, born No- 
vember 12, 1848, married Hadessa 
McMillen; David, born September 21, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



491 



1851, married EflSe McFadden; Stephen, 
boru February 2, 1851, married Mary 
Keiffer; Phebe E., born July 25, 1857, 
became the wife of Melvin Ricbey, De- 
cember 3, 1878. 

James, son of AVilliam W. Brown, mar- 
ried Mary Jane McCleve, and has three 
children: Hugh M., born Septemljer 22, 
1862; James W., May 8, 18G5, and Dolor- 
ous Elva, October 19, 1868. 

Hugh M., son of William W. Brown, 
died of lock-jaw at Liberty Center, No- 
vember 1, 1887. He was twice married, 
first to Elmira Merkle, and second to 
Agnes J. Barcus. To his first marriage 
was born one daughter, Minnie. 

Caroline, daughter of William W. 
Brown, married John Batdorff, September 
24, 1865. Mr. Batdorff was a member of 
Company A, One Hundred and Twentieth 
Ohio Infantry, and was a prisoner at 
Camp Ford, Texas, one year and twenty- 
four days. Mr. and Mrs. Batdorff have 
had three children: Russell B., born De- 
cember 12, 1867; Malilon, born October 
18, 1871, was killed by an accident in a 
saw-mill at Damascus, Ohio, May 20, 
1887; Yiva Blanche, born January 29, 
1886, in Liberty Center, Williams Co., 
Ohio. 

Mary M., daughter of W. W. Brown, 
married James Kerr; to them were born 
two children : Icy and John. 

Millard Fillmore, son of W. W. Brown, 



married Hadessa McMillan; to them were 
born two children: Nellie, now deceased, 
and Harry, the only one of the family 
now living. 

David, son of William W. Brown, mar- 
ried Effie McFadden; to them were boru 
two children: Anna Gertrude and Maud. 

Stephen, youngest son of Vi. W. Brown, 
married Mary Keiffer; to them were horn 
five children: Frankie, William, Allie, 
Love and Benjamin Harrison. 

Phebe E., daughter of W. W. Brown, 
married Melvin Richey; to them were 
born three children: Artie May, Clyde 
and Roice Clare. 

Hdgh M. Brown, third son of John B. 
and Mary (Morgan) Brown, was married 
February 21, 1838, by Rev. James Porter, 
to Margaret Neely, tvho was boru June 

25, 1819, and to them were born ten 
children: John B., born January 31, 18-40; 
Martha Ann, March 5, 1841; Joseph N., 
December 8, 1842; William Wesley, No- 
vember 5, 1844; Francis Marion, January 

26, 1847; Mary Ann, Feln-uary 21, 1849; 
Samuel E., January 6, 1851; George 
Albert, April 6, 1853; Lorena, July 17, 
1856, and Lotina. 

John B. Brown, eldest son of Hugh 
M. and Margaret (Neely) Brown, is a 
farmer, his post-office address being Nash- 
ville, Ohio. He married Margaret Ellen 
Lee, and they have had six children: 
James M., boru October 13, 1865; Alda 



492 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



J., May 22. 1867; an infant, deceased; 
Jobn Carlton, July 2, 1871; W. Walter 
and Effie May. 

Martha Ann, daughter of Hugh M. and 
Margaret (Neely) Brown, married Will- 
iam Imhoff, and to them were born five 
children: Albert Roswell, William Wes- 
ley, Delia S., Maggie Mattie and Elvero; 
they reside at Ashland, Ohio. 

Joseph N., second son of Hugh M. and 
Margaret (Neely) Brown, resides near 
Ashland, Ohio. He was married, Decem- 
ber G, 186-4, to Sarah King, and they 
have had four children: Arbie M., born 
December 19, 1866; Murtie M., March 
28, 1869; Edgar A., March 10, 1871, died 
March 29, 1871, and Emery E., born May 
30, 1875. 

Francis Marion, fourth son of Hugh M. 
and Margaret (Neely) Brown, married 
Belle Ekey, and resides near Ashland, 
Ohio. 

Mary Ann, second daughter of Hugh 
M. and Margaret (Neely) Brown, was 
married, December 22, 1870, to Jacob W. 
Weiler, and they have had four children: 
Ina May, born November 5, 1871, died 
September 6, 1873; Zetta L., born Sep- 
tember 26, 1873; Daisy O., born April 19, 
1875, and Harvey B., born July 23, 1879. 
Samuel E., fifth son of Hugh M. and 
Margaret (Neely) Brown, is a merchant 
at Oakland, Ohio. 

George Albert, youngest son of Hugh 



M. and Margaret (Neely) Brown, was mar- 
ried September 7, 1875, to Laura Ferrell, 
who died October 28, 1882, leaving two 
children: Orra, born December 10, 1877, 
and Lorena, born May 11, 1880, died Feb- 
ruary 20, 1883. August 20, 1885, Mr. 
Brown married Mary Hinkle, and they 
have one child, Lolo Ursel, born Novem- 
ber 28, 1887. 

Thomas A. Brown, fourth son of John 
B. and Mary (Morgan) Brown, resides at 
Shreve, Ohio. He married, March 5, 
1845, Mary Bird, and they have had seven 
children: Ralston B., born June 24, 1846, 
married to Sarah J. Gill; Bird A., born 
February 25, 1848, died April 29, 1877; 
Selina J., born September 12, 1849, mar- 
ried to J. J. Sullivan, September 27, 
1877; Ludema, deceased; Mina I., born 
July 23, 1853, married .November 27, 
1873, to W. A. Craig; Aurelia M., born 
August 29, 1855, married October 6, 
1876, to Lucurtus Sidle; Elmer, born 
August 8, 1857. 

Selina J., eldest daughter of Thomas 
A., and Mary (Bird) Brown, married 
Hon. J. J. Sullivan, now United States 
Bank Examinei', and resides at Cleveland, 
Ohio; to them were born three children: 
Selva v., Colis E., and Nellie Pauline. 

Mina I., married W. A. Craig, who re- 
sides near Shreve, Ohio; to them were 
born three children: Brown T., Paul S. 
and Ruth S. 



Aurelia M. married Lucurtus Sidle, who 
resides uear Blatchleyville, Ohio; to them 
were born two children; Zella and Lnla. 

Stephen Bnowx, who resides near 
Shreve, Ohio, sixth son of John Buckner 
and Mary (Morgan) Brown, married 
Martha M. Kiffle (now deceased). To 
them were born three children : Herbert 
B., who married Sidnia Jones; Grear E., 
who married Avilla C. Bedford ; and Allie, 
only daughter. 

Herbert B., eldest son of Stephen and 
Martha M. (Riffle) Brown, grandson of 
John Buckner Brown, lives near Shreve, 
Ohio, married Sidnia Jones, and to them 
was born a son, Felix J. 

Grear E., youngest son of Stephen and 
Martha M. (Ripple) Brown, married 
Avilla C. Bedford, and resides near Shreve, 
Ohio; to them were born two children: 
Boyd B. and Glenn W. 

M.\RY Ann Brown, youngest daughter 
of John Buckner and Mary (Morgan) 
Brown, married James K. Campbell, now 
deceased, of Ripley Township, Holmes 
Co., Ohio, address Shreve, Ohio; to them 
were born five children: Marinda now 
deceased, who married Ozias Fouch; 
Arthur W. ; Anna E., now deceased, who 
married P. W. Newkirk; Maggie, who 
married Fred Wachtel; and Emma, who 
married Bert Armstrong. 

Marinda (now deceased), eldest daugh- 
ter of James K. and Mary Ann (Brown) 



Campbell, married Ozias Fouch; to them 
were born five children: James, Lefa, 
John, Frank and Maggie. 

Anna E. (deceased), second daughter 
of James K. Campbell, married P. W. 
Newkirk ; to them were born two children : 
Mamie, now deceased, and Nellie. 

Maggie, daughter of James K. Camp- 
bell, married Fred Wachtel; to them was 
born a son, whose name is Grover. 

Emma, youngest daughter of James K. 
Campbell, married Bert Armstrong; to 
them were born two children: Troy and 
Ebert. 

Isaac Brown (Shreve, Ohio), the 
seventh son of John Buckner and Mary 
(Morgan) Brown, married Elizabeth Mc- 
Conkey February 2, 1854, who died Au- 
gust 23, 1887 ; to them were born a sou, 
Alvin J., who died at the age of seven; a 
daughter, Clara B., born July 13, 1857, 
who married Jason Critchfield September 

I, 1878. 

Clara B., daughter and onl}' child liv- 
ing of Isaac and Elizabeth (McConkey) 
Brown, married Jason Critchfield, who re- 
sides in Ripley Township, Holmes Co., 
Ohio, address Big Prairie, Ohio; to 
them were born five children: Earl B., 
born August 17, 1879; Louis H., born 
January 28, 1883; Rob Roy, born May 12, 
1884; Exa Pearl, born February 1, 1886; 
infant son, born February 7, died February 

II, 1888; Zella May, born May U\ 1889. 



494 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Samuel Ellery Brown, youngest sou 
of John B. and Mary (Morgan) Brown, 
resides at Firth, Neb. He was married 
November 4, 1854, to Almira Caldwell, 
who was born June 8, 1838. They have 
ten children: Willis Eugene, born Sep- 
tember 4, 1855; Mary Jane, born June 6, 
1857; Kit Carson, August 3, 1859; Leo- 
nora, December 28, 1861 ; Leroy, October 
20, 1864; Arthur Ohio, April 16, 1867; 
Charles Vermont, July 11, 1870; Lena, 
February 18, 1872, and William Earl and 
Era, March 14, 1875. 

AsHFORD Brown, M. D., eldest son of 
Samuel B. Brown, was born March 13, 
1822, and married S. E. Johnson, Decem- 
ber 2, 1849. He began the practice of 
medicine in 1850, and now has a large 
practice at Webster, W. Va. He has had 
six children: Adaline H., born February 
14, 1856; Lavina F. (wife of W. D. 
Prims), born March 11, 1858; D. B., 
born April 24, 1863; Permelia Eldarah, 
born March 11, 1866; Charles Newton, 
born January 16, 1869; Frank C, born 
Jime (), 1873. Adaline H., D. B. and Per- 
melia E. are deceased. 

BucKNER B. Brown, eldest son of Thomas 
F. and Elizabeth (Zinu) Brown, was born 
on the old homestead near Gladesville, W. 
Va., where he lived until 1859, when he 
moved to Roane County, on the Little 
Kanawha River, where he was doing well 
until 1861, when he was broken \ip by the 



war. He then returned to Preston Coun- 
ty, and in 1863 enlisted in the United 
States service. He died June 24, 1877. 
He was married December 29, 1853, to 
Jane Freeburn, and to them were born 
twelve children: Leca A., born November 
27, 1854, was married April 14, 1881, to 
H. C. Flythe, of Newburgh, W. Va. ; 
Thomas F., of Leadville, Colo., was born 
April 3, 1856, married to I. D. Da- 
vis, December 31, 1878; Charles M., of 
Grafton, W. Va., was born October 16, 
1857, and married December 2, 1884, 
Martha E. Zinn ; Adaline, born August 
4, 1859, was married February 8, 1880, 
to John F. Farrell; Sarah E., born Oc- 
tober 4, 1861, was married December 2, 
1884, to Jacob Born; Virgil W., born 
August 26, 1863; Alice M., born July 15, 
1865, died October 23, 1869; Robert B., 
born July 25, 1867; Aura and Edwin S. 
(twins) born July 16, 1869; William C, 
born December 9, 1871, died July 8, 
1875; Maud, born April 29, 1874. 

Thomas F. Brown, eldest son of Buck- 
ner B. and Jane (Freeburn) Brown, mar- 
ried L D. Davis, December 31, 1878, 
and July 9, 1887, moved to Leadville, 
Colo., where he works at the carpenter's 
trade. He has three children: Dewitt 
Cecil, born October 17, 1879; Clarence, 
born May 30, 1883, and Forest F., born 
February 14, 1885. 

Charles M., second son of Buckner B. 



WAYNE COUNTY 



41)5 



and Jane (Freeburn) Browu, luanied 
Martha E. Zinu, and has one child, Bessie, 
born May, 1886. j 

Adaline, second daughter of Buckner 
B. and Jane (Freeburn) Brown, is the 
wife of John F. Farrell, and has four 
chihheu: Agnes, born January 21, 1881; 
Charles, born December 20, 1882; Bessie, 
born August 11, 1884, and John, born 
September 15, 1887. ! 

Sarah E., third daughter of Buckner B. l 
and Jane (Freeburn) Brown, is the wife 
of Jacob Born, and has two children: 
Nora, Viorn October 7, 1885, and Nettie, 
born March 17. 1S87. 

WiLLi.\M T. Brown, second son of Thom- 
as F. and Elizabeth (Zinn) Brown, was 
married March 0, 18t)2, to Sarah C. Ham- 
ilton, wlio died June 29, 1875, leavinj; 
five children: Joseph H., born March 14, 
1803; Emer O., born March 2<.t, 1866; 
Adaline. May 8, 1869; Mary E., March j 
19, 1872; and C. M., born July 19, 1874, 
died June 7, 1877. Mr. Brown married 
for his second wife, November 20, 1877, 
Margaret C. Swindler, and they have 
three children: Caroline, born June 28, 
1880; W. T., Sei)tember 23, 1882, and 
Ruby P., Ai)ril 11, 1885. 

Virgil S. Bhowx, fourth son of Thomas 
F. and Elizabeth (Zinn) Browu, married, 
October 26, 1870, Sarah Jenkins, who 
bore him the following named children: 
Thomas M., born August 14, 1871; Earl 



C, February 10, 1>>73; William G., Sep- 
tember 29, 1874; Icie Estellie, January 
6,1878 (died March 31. 1878); Bessie 
May, October 23, 1880; Virgil S., No- 
vember 18, 1886. The father enlisted in 
the Civil War in 1861, and was mustered 
out in December, 1864; re-enlisted in the 
service tlie following February, and was 
finally mustered out June 10, 1865, close 
of the war. 



rr^HOMAS ASHBEY BROWN, a rep- 
I resentative of one of the early fani- 
JJ ilies of Wayne County, was born 
in Clinton Township, June 22, 1818, 
a son of John Buckner and Mary (Mor- 
gan) Brown. His father came from Vir- 
ginia in 1813 and settled on land he had 
entered from the Government the year be- 
fore, on Section 20, Clinton Township, 
and made this township liis home the rest 
of his life. He died at the age of sixty- 
sis j'ears, and at his death owned 1,300 
acres of valuable land. His father was a 
slave owner in Virginia, and his slaves 
were divided among his children. John 
B. was opposed to the institution of 
slavery, and gave to his their freedom. He 
was accompanied to Ohio by his wife's 
parents, who made Wayne County their 
home the rest of their lives. 

Thomas A. Brown has spent nil his 



496 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



life in the near vicinity of the place of 
his birth, and Jias given his entire atten- 
tion to farming. He received a common- 
school education, attending the log cabin 
schools of the pioneer days, and from his 
childhood has been engaged in agricultu- 
ral pursuits, beginning by doing the chores 
on his father's farm, and gradually taking 
hold of the heavier work. He has been 
successful in his operations, and now has 
a fine farm of 656 acres, located on Sec- 
tion 10, Clinton Township. Mr. Brown 
was married March 5, 1845, in Monroe 
Township, Holmes County, to Mary, 
daughter of Thomas Butler and Mary 
(Williams) Bird, former a native of 
Virginia, and latter of Pennsylvania; 
both accompanied their parents to Ohio 
ill their childhood and located in Holmes 
County, the mother's parents, however, 
first locating in Licking County, where 
they remained a short time. Thomas B. 
Bird was all his life a farmer and at his 
death left his family 500 acres of land, 
having spent all his married life on the 
same farm. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brown have had seven 
children, viz.: Ralston B., Bird A., Selina 
J., Ludema, Elmina I., Aurelia M. and 
Elmer. Ralston B. married Sarah J. Gill ; 
Bird A. is deceased ; Selina J. is the wife of 
J. J. Sullivan, of Cleveland; Elmina I. is 
the wife of AVilliam A. Craig; Aurelia 
M. is the wife of Curtis Seidle. The fam- 



ily are all well known in Clinton Town- 
ship, where all save Mrs. Sullivan have 
made their home. In politics Mr. Brown 
is a Republican, but is in no sense a poli- 
tician, and has never held any public office. 
He and his family are members of the 
Disciples Church. 



1^ ALSTON B. BROWN, son of 

h^ Thomas A. and Mary (Bird) 
Jj — ^ Brown, was born in Ripley Town- 
ship, Holmes Co., Ohio, in 1846. 
Thomas A. Brown was a son of John 
Buckner Brown, and a grandson of Thom- 
as Brown. Thomas A., father of the sub- 
ject of this memoir, was born June 22, 
1818, on the old homestead farm in Clin- 
ton Township, where he was educated, 
and March 5, 1845, was married to Mary, 
daughter of Thomas Butler and Mary 
(Williams) Bird, of Monroe Township, 
Holmes Co., Ohio. They located in Rip- 
ley Township, where they remained until 
1865, when he sold the farm and pur- 
chased the one he now owns and occupies 
in Clinton Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
to which he removed. Their children 
were Ralston B. ; Bird A. (deceased), who 
was married to Verne Yarnell, and located 
in Clinton Township, where he was en- 
gaged in farming; Selina J., now Mrs. 
J. J. Sullivan, of Cleveland, Ohio; Lu- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



497 



dema (deceased) ; Elmiim I., now Mrs. 
William A. Craig, of Clinton Township; 
Aurelia M., now Mrs. Curtis Seidle, of 
Plain Township, and Elmer. 

Ralston B. Brown was reared and edu- 
cated in Holmes County, Ohio, and lived 
at home until ISG'J, in which year he 
married Sarah J., daughter of George and 
Anna Gill, of Plain Township, this county, 
and they located on the farm he how owns 
in Clinton Township, where he is engaged 
in farming and stock-raising:, and broeding 
full-blooded English Shire and Percheron- 
Norman horses. Mrs. Brown is a mem- 
ber of the Christian Church of Shreve. 
Mr. Brown is a member of the oi'der of 
the Maccabees of the World, and polit- 
ically is a Prohibitionist. 



dOHN BROWN, son of John B. and 
I Mary (Morgan) Brown, was born 
on the farm now owned by Ralston 
B. Brown in Clinton Township, AVayne 
Co., Ohio, October 25, 1822. Here he 
was raised and educated, and in March, 
1848, married Rhoda, daughter of John 
Newkirk, of the same township. The 
young couple then located in Franklin 
Township, where they remained for a 
period of tiiirty years. He then sold his 
farm there and removed to his late resi- 
dence in Shreve. John Newkirk came 



from Washington County, Penn., located 
in Wayne County, where at his death he 
was one of its prominent and able farm- 
ers. His ciiildren were Milton, Eliza- 
beth, Ursula. Newton, Cyrus, George 
Washington and Rhoda. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brown had three children : 
Mary, now Mrs. Henry Sidle, of Frank- 
lin Township, this county; Ella Porte, 
who died in January, 1887, and Milton 
N., who died in October, 1864, at the age 
of seven 3-ears. Mr. and Mrs. Brown 
were members of the Disciples Ciiurch. 
Mr. Brown died April 19, 1889. In pol- 
itics he was a Republican, and held vari- 
ous public positions. 



TEPHEN BROWN, son of John 
B. and Mary (Morgan) Brown, 
was born in Clinton Township, 
Wayne Co., Ohio, August 8, ■ 182t;, on 
the farm now owned by Ralston B. 
Brown. January 31, 1850, he married 
Mai-tha M., daughter of Jesse Riffle, and 
they then located in Franklin Township, 
where they i-emained five years; thence in 
1855, they x-emoved to the place Mr. 
Brown now owns in Clinton Township. 
Here he built his present resitlence, made 
many improvements, and now has a farm 
of 240 acres. To them three children 
have been born: Herbert B., who married 



498 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Sidnia Jones, and has located on the 
home farm (they have one son, Felix J.) ; 
G. E., who married Villa Bedford, and 
has also located on the home farm (they 
have two children, Boyd B. and Glen), 
and Emma Alice at home. Mrs. Brown 
died in 1887, a member of the Disciples 
Church. Mr. Brown is a member of the 
same church ; in politics he is a Republican. 



^jr^ EV. JOHN C. ELLIOTT, of Ritt- 
w^^ man, Milton Township, Wayne 
Jj —^ County, is a son of Thomas and 
Barbara (Warren) Elliott, natives 
of Jefferson County, Ohio, who having 
purchased a farm in Milton Township, in 
1828, removed to it a few years later. On 
this farm our subject still lives. Thomas 
Elliott was prominent in all local public 
enterprises and works of benevolence. He 
was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian 
Church, and director of the county in- 
firmary until failing health made it im- 
possible for him to visit it. He died in 
June, 1871; his widow yet lives on the 
old farm with her son, Jolin C. Their 
family consisted of five children: Austin 
W., Simon P., Warren, John C. and Mary 
R., and of these there are yet living Rev. 
A. W. Elliott, of Marshfield, Mo., and 
Rev. John C. Elliott. 



The subject of these lines was born 
July 18, 1839, and was educated at Ver- 
million Institute, Western Reserve (now 
Adelbert) College and Princeton Theolog- 
ical Seminary. He was at once called to 
tlie Presbyterian Church at Nebraska City, 
Neb., where he was ordained and installed 
pastor in 1867. Here he remained till 
1870, when he was called home to Ohio 
by the rapidly failing health of his father. 
In addition to the pastoral charge in Neb- 
raska, he was active in mission work, or- 
ganizing the church at Lincoln, the capi- 
ital, and in educational enterprises. He 
was appointed by the governor examiner 
of the State Normal School and regent of 
the State University. He also acted for 
one year as president of Otoe University, 
a Presbyterial school at Nebraska City. 
On returning to Ohio he was invited to 
take charge of the Presbyterian Church in 
Seville, which he served as acting pastor 
for fifteen years, always living, however, 
on the old farm. lu 1878 he gathered 
and organized the church at Rittmau, of 
which he became the first pastor, and has 
remained in charge since. Has for years 
been a trustee of Wooster University'. 

In May, 1866, Mr. Elliott married Miss 
Nettie M., daughter of Nathaniel Stanley, 
of Trumbull County, Ohio, and to them 
seven children have been born : the eldest 
Thomas S., died in infancy; six yet live: 
Charles H., Warner W., Mary, Varuum 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



499 



N.. Eutli and Paul. In 187S Mr. Elliott 
built a chain tile manufactory at Eittman, 
and in 1887 erected his large establish- 
ment. 



JOHN Q. ADAMS, one of the oldest 
settlers and well-known citizens of 
^ Chippewa Township, Wayne County, 
was born in Anne Arundel County, Md., 
April 9, 1800, and is a son of William and 
Elizabeth (Zepp) Adams, the former of 
English parentage and the latter of Ger- 
man. They were pioneers of Jefiferson 
County, Ohio, where William resided un- 
til his death ; his widow died at the age of 
ninety-one years, at the residence of their 
son, John Q., in Chippewa Township, 
Wayne Co., Ohio. Our subject was 
reared in Jefferson County, Ohio, and at 
the age of eighteen was apprenticed to 
the blacksmith's trade, at which he served 
two and a half years, in Steubenville, 
Ohio. 

In iH'l'ii Mr. Adams traded a tract of land 
in Pennsylvania for 160 acres in Chip- 
l)ewa Township, Wayne County, on which 
he settled the same year, and three days 
after his arrival he had erected and started 
a blacksmith's shop, where he worked at 
his trade steadily for four years. He 
then gave his attention to making axes and 
other edge tools, and to the clearing and 



improving of his farm. In 18;5ij he dis- 
covered coal on his farm, the right of 
mining which he leased to others, and 
from wliich he has received a liberal in- 
come. Mr. Adams married, in 1820, 
Mary Llewellyn, of Washington County, 
Penn., by whom he had nine children who 
grew to maturity, viz. : William, Thomas, 
George, Sarah J., Mary A., Rachel, Ade- 
line, John and Elizabeth. Although Mr. 
Adams is in his ninetieth year he is 
remarkably strong and active, and bids 
fair to live to celebrate his one hundredth 
birthday. For over forty years ho was a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, though he is not now connected 
with any denomination. He has held 
various local offices in his township, and 
is a stanch Democrat. 




OMEO A. RAYL, son of Isaiah and 
Cynthia (Graham) Rayl, is a na- 
tive of Wayne County, born in 

Fredericksburgh, February 28,185',). 
Isaiah Rayl was born in Pennsylvania, 
June 18, 1818, of English descent, and 
came to Wayne County witli his parents 
in boyhood. He learned the blacksmith's 
trade in his youth, and for some 3'ears 
followed it in Fredericksburgh. In March, 
180-t, he moved to the farm where the 
subject of our notice now lives, and made 



500 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



that his home uutil his death, which oc- 
curred May 22, 188S. He was married 
February 27, 1840, to Cynthia Graham, 
a native of Pennsylvania, and to them 
were born eleven children, of whom only 
five survive. They were devoted mem- 
bers of the Baptist Church, of which Mr. 
Rayl was for many years a deacon, and 
one son, David K., was educated for mis- 
sionary work. He spent two years in 
India, when he fell a victim to that dread 
disease, consumption, and came home 
to die. His death occurred September 
10, 1884, in the thirtj'-seventh year of 
his age. His faithful Avife, who had 
shared the cares and trials of a mission- 
ary life with him, survived him but two 
weeks. They left one child, Isaiah, who 
is now an inmate of his grandmother's 
home. Mr. Rayl was a strong Prohibi- 
tionist, and was anxious to live to see his 
country freed from the curse of strong 
drink. He was one of the honored men 
of his town, and will long be remembered 
for his many excellent virtues. 

Romeo A. Rayl was reared on his fa- 
ther's farm, remaining at home, and since 
his father's death has had charge of the 
homestead. He was married in 1881 to 
Miss Jennie Price, a native of Seneca 
County, Ohio, daughter of Thomas and 
Matilda Price, still residents of that coun- J 
ty. Mr. Price is a native of Baltimore 
County, Md., but came to Ohio when 



about fifteen years of age. His family 
are of English descent, but early settlers 
of America, and some of its members 
were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. 
Mr. and Mrs. Romeo Rayl have had 
three children: Owen Albert, Mary Etta 
(deceased) and Eva Maud. Politically 
he is a strong Pi'ohibitionist, and both 
he and his wife are active members of the 
Baptist Chui'ch. Mr. Rayl is one of the 
best and most favorably known young men 
of the county, a worthy representative of a 
most worthy father. 



JB. SNYDER was born October 8, 
1833, on the old homestead on Sec- 
tion 1, Congress Township, Wayne 
Co., Ohio, and is a sou of an old pioneer 
of Congress Township, George Snyder. 
He (George) was a native of Virginia, 
and came from there to Wayne County, 
Ohio, in the spring of 1819, entering from 
the Government the southwest quarter of 
Section 1. He died in 1805, in his 
seventieth year. Mary (Bowers) Snyder, 
mother of the subject of this memoir, was 
born in Muskingum County, Ohio. She 
died in 1875, in her seventy-fifth year, 
the mother by Mr. Snyder of ten children, 
nine of whom grew to manhood and 
womanhood. 

Of these children, J. B., the subject 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



501 



of this sketch, was united in marriage, 
October 23, 1856, with Miss Mary Jane 
Burns, who was born July 21, 1830, in 
Congress Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. 
Her father, Hector Burns, was born in 
Chester County, Penn., and in the fall of 
1822 he came to Congress Townsliip, 
Wayne Co., Ohio, where he entei-ed the • 
northeast quarter of Section 3. Her 
mother, Mary (Williams) Burns, was 
born October 31, 1791, in Lycoming 
County, Penn. This couple reared a 
large family, and both lived to a ripe old i 
age, Mr. Burns dying July 14, 1858, in 
his sixty-eighth year, and Mrs. Burns, 
September 15, 1872, in the eighty-first 
year of her age. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder 
have been blessed with eight children, 
three of whom survive. The parents are 
both consistent members of tlie Methodist 
Episcopal Church. Mr. Snyder owns and 
lives upon the old homestead, one mile 
south of Burbank, where he has made 
many improvements, and is regarded as 
one of the progressive farmers of Wayne 
County. 



QEOEGE HINISH (deceased) was 
' liorn in Bedford County, Penn., 
September 2, 1814, and died in 
February, 1873. He was married in 
his native county, February 17, 1844, to 



Mary A. Garman, also a native of that 
county. To them were born eight chil- 
dren, five sons and three daughters, 
named as follows: William W., of Chi- 
cago, 111.; John G., of Kansas; Cora L., 
now Mrs. Jones, of Toledo, Ohio; George 
W., of Dakota; Chester C, Harry AV.. 
Mollie S. and Agnes L. L. 

Mr. Hinish was reared in his native coun- 
ty, attending the common schools, and. on 
leaving school, began to work at the car- 
penter's trade, which he followed only a 
short time. He then began to learn the 
trade of a millwright, at which he worked 
a number of years, abandoning it to en- 
gage in the hotel business, at Johnstown, 
Penn., which he continued until 1802, 
when he left Pennsylvania, and became 
identified with the interests of Wayne 
County, Ohio. He first bought 101 acres 
of land in Plain Township, of Judge 
Goodfellow, and made this place his home 
for the rest of his life. His business life 
had been a series of successes, and, after 
becoming a resident of Wayne County, 
he laid the foundation of a beautiful 
home, which he was not long permitteil 
to enjoy. He was always public spirited 
and enterprising, and was a firm believer 
in all methods that tended to promote the 
welfare of the community in which he 
lived. He was a member of the Masonic 
fraternity and I. O. O. F., in both of which 
he took a deep interest. In politics he 



502 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



from early life was a Kepublican, and was 
a stanch supporter of the principles of 
that party, being a strong Union man 
during the dark days of the Eebellion. 
He was a member of the Baptist Church, 
and was always ready to do all in his 
power to aid in its support. He was a 
man of fine business principles, and was 
honored by all who knew him for his up- 
rightness of character and strict adherence 
to his convictions of right, his errors be- 
ing of the head and not of the heart. 



JOHN LONGANECKER, farmer, 
Chester Township, was born in Col- 
umbiana County, Ohio, in 1817, 
being one of a family of eight children 
born to Joseph and Barbara (Mergin) 
Longanecker. His fatlier became a resi- 
dent of Ohio in 1800, and became one of 
the prosperous farmers of Columbiana 
County, owning at the time of his death 
over 200 acres of valuable land. He died 
in 1849, aged seventy-five years. 

John Longanecker left his native coun- 
ty in 1850 and settled on 160 acres of 
land in Chester Township, Wayne Coun- 
ty, which had been entered by his father. 
In his youth he learned the blacksmith's 
trade, and has worked at it most of the 
time, in connection with the regular duties 
of the farm. He was married in 1841 



to Nancy Long. Their only child, Peter 
Longanecker, enlisted in the army in 18G1, 
in Company D, One Hundred and Twen- 
tieth Ohio Infantry, and died June 15, 
1863, aged twenty years and five montlis, 
and was buried in Chester graveyard, 
Wayne County, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Long- 
anecker reside on the farm, where they 
have made their home nearly forty years. 
They are now well advanced iu life, and 
are enjoying the fruits of their early 
years of toil. Kind and hospitable, they 
have many friends in all the walks of life, 
who honor them for their many virtues. 
They are members of the Lutheran 
Church. In politics Mr. Longanecker is 
a stanch Republican. 



T^ f( ARRY E. BAKER barber, Smith- 
IpM ville, Wayne Co., Ohio, is one of 
Jj -^ the live young men of that village. 
He comes of a family of German 
extraction, who have for several gener- 
ations been citizens of America. His great- 
great-grandfather Baker — the name being 
then spelled Becker — came to this country 
before the War of the Revolution. He 
was a Dunkard, and in accordance with 
the tenets of that body he was a non- 
combatant. He was arrested in Philadel- 
phia during the Revolution for refusing 
to serve in the army when conscripted, 




.7 





'=^<~e/~L.n^ {:^yp'UO'0^^ 



tiev^ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



505 



and was imprisoned. In jail he thought 
loug and earnestly over the matter, and 
finally coming to the conclusion that it 
was his duty to take up arms in defense 
of his adopted country, he renounced his 
allegiance to the church, entered the army, 
and served faithfully until the close of 
the war, and the securing of our independ- 
ence. His son, Frederick, great-grand- 
father of Harry E., was born in Lebanon 
County, Penn., and about 1832 came to 
Wayne County with his family, locating 
in Canaan Township, but later removing 
to Seneca County, Ohio, where he and his 
wife both died. They had a numerous 
family, of whom the following named yet 
survive : Frederick, a resident of Seneca 
County; Peter, in Germantown, Mont- 
gomery Co., Ohio (was formerly a Meth- 
odist jn-eacher, but is now retired) ; Julia 
Ann, widow of Charles Betts, in Marshall- 
town, Iowa, and Abraham, grandfather of 
Harry E., who is the eldest of the sur- 
vivors. He was born in Lebanon County, 
Penn., December 14, 1800. In his youth 
he began the study of medicine, but gave 
that up to enter the ministry, becoming a 
preacher of the Evangelical Association. 
For a number of years he labored in that 
cause, but, on account of defective hear- 
ing, gave up preaching and united with 
the Methodist Episcopal Church; he then 
adopted the profession of veterinary sur- 
geon. In June, 1834, he came to Wayne 

38 



County, where he has ever since lived. 
This was then a comparatively new 
country, and Mr. Baker has seen it 
transferred from a wilderness to one of 
the richest agricultural counties of the 
great State of Ohio. For three years he 
kept a hotel in Wooster, and then re- 
moved to Jefferson, four and a half miles 
west, where he remained until the death 
of his wife. He was married in Cumber- 
land County, Penn., to Mrs. Hannah 
(Spangler) Zinn, a native of that county, 
who had been previously married to Will- 
iam Zinn, b}- whom she had four chil- 
dren, two of them yet living, George and 
Elizabeth. She was born in 1797, and 
died May 9, 1878. Her father when 
quite young came to America from Zwei- 
briicken, Germany, about 125 years ago. 
He had learned surveying in his native 
land, and on arriving in America his entire 
property consisted of his instruments; in 
order to reach the New World he was com- 
pelled to sell his services for a certain 
period to a transportation company, and 
by hard lalior paid for his [)assage. At 
the time of his death he was the owner of 
four fine farms — two in Lancaster County 
and two in Cumberland County, Penn. 
Abraham Baker has all his life been a 
religious man, and for fifty years has been 
a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, there being no Evangelical Soci- 
ety here when he came to Ohio. He ia 



506 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



an honest, straight forward man, esteemed 
by all who know him. He is now living 
in the city of Wooster, and is the oldest 
man in the township. He and his wife 
had four children, all deceased except 
Yost S., father of Harry E., who was born 
in Wooster, September 7, 1834, a few 
months after his parents' arrival in the 
place. 

Yost S. Baker learned the trade of shoe- 
making, at which he worked until July 
24, 1862, on which day he entered the 
Union army, enlisting in Company I, 
One Hundred and Second Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry. The regiment was ordered 
from the rendezvous at Camp Mansfield, 
before being armed or equipped, to the 
defense of Cincinnati, then threatened by 
the rebel Gen. Kirby Smith. They were 
mustered into the United States service 
in the streets of Covington, Ky., and were 
then sent to Newport, same State, where 
they were kept in line of battle several 
days. The regiment afterward saw con- 
siderable service in the Southwest, in 
which Mr. Baker participated, serving 
faithfully until the close of the war; he 
-was discharged May 23, 1865, having 
served three years lacking two months. 
Though never wounded, the hardshijss 
endured in the army somewhat impaired 
Mr. Baker's health, and he yet feels their 
effects. Returning to the pursuits of 
peace, he opened a shop in Smithville, 



where for six mouths he carried on his 
trade, then sold out, and for several 
years worked as a journeyman. In 1877 
he again opened a shop in Smithville, to 
which, in 1885, he added a line of ready- 
made goods. Yost S. Baker was married 
August 2, 1860, to Miss Fanny Draben- 
stot, who was born near Smithville, her 
parents having come from Lancaster 
County, Penn. She was born September 
23, 1840. They have two children : Harry 
Ellsworth and Edna May. The parents 
are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church of Smithville. Mrs. Baker's 
grandfather, Frederick Drabenstot, was 
married to Peggy Nicolas, and they had 
ten children, of whom Fanny Drabenstot 
Wolfe and Frederick Drabenstot still 
survive. Frederick, the grandfather of 
our subject, was born in Lancaster Coun- 
ty, Penn., in 1806, and was married in 
1829 to Mary Croft, she being one of four 
children — two boys and two girls — of 
whom the two boys yet survive. They 
came to Wayne County in 1830, and had 
three children — Jacob, Mary and Fanny — 
all of whom are living. Mary Croft 
Drabenstot died at the age of forty-eight 
yeai's, and Frederick Drabenstot married 
Mary Williams. They had four children — 
Emma, Ida, Delia and Hugh — of whom 
the youngest three are living. In 1865 
he sold his farm in Wayne County, and 
moved to Huntington County, Ind., where 



WAYNE COUNT y. 



50"; 



he purcbnsed two farms, and is yet liviug 
on one of them. 

Harry Ellsworth Baker was born April 
26, 1861, while the family was living at 
Smithville, but his birthplace was Jeffer- 
son, where, at the time, his mother was 
visiting his grandfather. His district 
school education was supplemented with 
two years' tuition in Prof. Eberly's High 
School in Smithville, now the Northern 
Ohio Normal Scliool. Leaving there, lie 
learned the trade of a barber at Wooster, 
and returning to Smithville in 1880, 
opened a shop, in wliicli he is doing a fine 
trade, being very competent in his busi- 
ness. November 22, 1881, Mr. Baker 
was united in marriage with Miss Emma 
Loretta, only child of John H. and Mary 
E. (Salmons) Myers, of Orrville, this 
county. Her father was a teacher by 
profession, and had been principal of the 
high school at Upper Sandusky, Kenton, 
Wadsworth, Ohio, and for two years pre- 
ceding his death, of the high school at 
Orrville, also then holding the position of 
county examiner. He died September 8, 
1875, aged thirty-eight years, and his 
widow subsequently became the wife of 
John H. Harter; she is still a resident of 
Orrville, and has one child, Mary Alverda 
Harter. John H. Myers wa.s born in 
Lancaster County, Ponn., his father hav- 
ing come from Germany. About forty- 
five j'ears ago the family came to Wayne 



County, and representatives of it are still 
living here. Harry Baker is a stirring, 
wide-awake young man, who stands well 
in the community. He is a lover of good 
horses, and the owner of a tliorough-bred 
trotting stallion (whose progeny are be- 
coming numerous in this part of the 
State), and is doing much to elevate the 
standard mark of the horses of this sec- 
tion of the count}'. Mr. and Mrs. Bakei" 
have one child, Ellis Myers, born August 
29, 1882. Mrs. Baker was born in Smith- 
ville, Ohio, December 21, 1862, and was 
three years old when her father accepted 
the position of principal of the schools of 
Upper Sandusky, where he stayed three 
years. She lived with her parents until 
her father's death, and then made her 
home with her mother until her marriage. 
She is a member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. 

Mrs. Emma Baker's great-grandfather, 
Jesse McKinley, was born in 1794, in 
Westmoreland County, Penn., and in 1815 
married Mary Dugan, who was born at 
the same place in 1792. They moved to 
Wayne County in 1817, where they re- 
mained until their deaths. Jesse McKin- 
ley was a squire and school-teacher, and 
owned a quarter section of land at the 
time of his death. They had a family of 
nine children, of whom two are yet living: 
Sarah (McKinley) Kennedy, and Cath- 
arine (McKinley) Gearard, the eldest of 



508 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



the family, and grandmother of Emma 
Baker, and still living on part of the old 
homestead. She was married to Charles 
Salmons, December 13, 1838, and they 
had two children — Mary Etta, mother of 
Emma Baker, and Elizabeth Ann, both 
living in Wayne County. Mrs. Salmons 
afterward married J. P. Gearard. Jesse 
McKinley died at the age of thirty-nine 
years, and his widow survived him about 
twenty years, she being fifty-nine years old 
at the time of her death. Emma Baker's 
great-great-grandfather and great-great- 
grandmother McKinley were natives of 
Ireland, as were also her great-great- 
grandfather and great-great-grandmother 
Dugan. 



JAMES FLUHART, son of Zacheus 
and Mary (Robison) Fluhart, was 
^-^ born in Salt Creek Township,"Wayne 
Co., Ohio, in 1825, and has never lived 
outside of the school district in which 
he was born. His grandfather, James 
Fluhart, was a resident of Meadville, 
Penn., where he passed the remainder of 
his days. His widow married Phineas 
First, and they removed to Salt Creek 
Township, Wayne County. The children 
of James Fluhart were Zacheus, Henry, 
Nathan, Sarah, Elizabeth and Mary. Of 
these, Henry married, and died in Mis- 



souri ; Nathan married, and died in Wayne 
County, Ohio; Sarah married George 
Robison, and died in Fulton County, Ohio; 
Elizabeth is now Mrs. George Sharp, of 
East Union, Wayne County; Mary was 
the late Mrs. John Clark, of East Union, 
Wayne County. Zacheus was born in 
Meadville, Penn., and when young re- 
moved with his parents to Ohio, where his 
father purchased a farm, now owned by A. 
R. Fluhart, in Salt Creek Township, and 
there he married, and located on the farm 
now owned by George Moore, in Salt 
Creek Township, and where James Flu- 
hart was born. Here Zacheus and Mary, 
his wife, passed their days, having five 
children, viz. : A. R., married to Margaret 
Thomas, and living on the old homestead ; 
Samuel, married to Deziah Robison, re- 
moved to Fulton County, Ohio, and died; 
Zacheus, married to Amanda Murray, re- 
moved to Illinois; Elizabeth, married to 
Martin Worley, removed to Fulton 
County, Ohio; and James, whose name 
heads this sketch. 

James Fluhart married, in the year 1849, 
Marsjaret Poorman, locatina: near tlie old 
homestead, where they remained nine 
years; then purchased the farm ujxm 
which he still lives. To them two chil- 
dren have been born: Edmund and Nettie. 
Of these, Edmund married Lucy Graber, 
and live at the homestead, and have one 
child, Ida; Nettie married Martin N. Cris- 



well, of Salt Creek To\viisbi[), AVayne 
County. Mr. Flubart is a stanch Kepnb- 
lican, having been officially identified 
with the party in various capacities. 



w 



JAY ASHENHUEST, publisher 
of the Shreve Xews, Shreve, 
Wayne Co., Ohio, was born June 
10, 1855, in Dalton, Wayne Co., Ohio, a 
son of Rev. James Y. and Martha Ashen- 
hurst, who removed to this county from 
West Virginia in 1853. When he was 
eighteen months old his parents removed 
to Hayesville, Ashland County, where he 
resided until he was eighteen years of 
age, when he moved to Southeastern Vir- 
ginia, where he remained a number of 
ytMirs, returning to Wayne County in 
18S3. He was married to Miss Rilla C. 
Armstrong, of Cleveland, October 4, 1883, 
and moved to Shreve in December, 1883, 
since which time he has been engaged in 
the publication of the Shreve Xews. Mr. 
and Mrs. Asheniiurst have one child, Edna 
Hope Asheuhurst, born August 20, 1887. 
The name Asheniiurst, or Asheuhust, is 
formed from Eschen, a kind of wood or 
timber, in English called ash or ashen 
when used adjectively. Hurst or hoist, 
according to Webster, means a wood or 
grove. The name literally means an ash 
or ashen grove, and was probably given 



to a farm or homestead. Hurst is a word 
frequently used in composition with other 
words in the formation of proper names, 
as Hazelhurst, Parkhurst and Barkhurst. 
Many other names of similar formation 
might be given. The families emigrating 
from Ireland to America did not use '-r" 
in the last syllable. Some niatle it Ashen 
and others Ashin. Often members of the 
same family spell their name differently. 
It would not, therefore, be strange that the 
"r" should be dropped out of the name 
in successive generations, especially when 
literature had not advanced to the degree 
it has attained at the present time, and 
when so little care was observed in keep- 
ing names pure and so distinct and uni- 
form in their orthography as to indicate 
closely their origin. 

The origin of the name as given above 
is so reasonable and probable, and agreea- 
ble to the analogy in the formation of other 
names, that the "r" has been restored 
by many bearing the name. In doing 
tins they yielded to an unswerving uni- 
versal public judgment, which stubbornly 
persisted in spelling the name Ashenhurst. 
Besides there is more music in the smooth, 
euphonious hurst than in the blunt, for- 
bidding bust. According to tradition re- 
ceived from the fathers, which has never 
been called in question, the name origi- 
nated in Germany. 

Several centuries ago some families 



510 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



beariiig the name emigrated from Ger- 
many to England, and settled near Lou- 
don, and it is probable, from the testi- 
mony of those who claim to know, that 
the name is still common in that part of 
England. But be that as it may, it is 
certain that at a later period some fami- 
lies of the Ashenhursts passed over from 
England to Ireland, and settled in County 
Tyrone, near Newton Stewart. In Tyrone 
the name is still common. Their ecclesias- 
tical connection is with the English Church, 
and some of them have borne Episcopal 
honors. In the year 1793 there was 
another exodus. The families of the 
Ashenhursts set sail from Ireland to 
America with the purpose of making it 
their future home. William Ashenhurst 
andhis family settled in Allegheny County, 
Penn., ten or twelve miles below Pitts- 
burgh. He had an only son, John, who 
lived on the old homestead after the death 
of his parents. He died childless, conse- 
quently in this branch of the family the 
name became extinct. Oliver Ashenhurst, 
a brother of William, came at the same 
time, and settled in Washington County, 
Penn., near Hardscrabble, now West 
Alexander. Subsequently he removed to 
Brown County, Ohio. Oliver had but 
one son, whom he named John. John 
married, and after some years removed to 
Indiana, and settled on the Wabash. He 
had several sons, one of whom was 



drowned in Brush Creek, Adams Co., Ohio, 
in 1830. Others of his sons with their 
families are probably settled in Indiana 
and Kentucky. The daughters of Oliver 
Ashenhurst all married and reared large 
families. Betty was married to Benja- 
min Marshall; Nellie was married to 
James Johnson; Peggy to William Eeed, 
who lived and died near West Alexander, 
Penn. ; Mattie was the wife of Thomas 
Robinson. William Ashenhurst and 
Nancy, his wife, with four children, im- 
migrated at the same time with the families 
mentioned above, in 1793. The children 
were John, Margaret, Mary, Nancy. 
Another son was born to them on their 
voyage before landing at Norfolk. This was 
Oliver, the youngest child. William and 
Oliver Ashenhurst, referred to above, were 
cousins of William Ashenhurst, the sub- 
ject of this reference. They were also 
brothers-in-law, as Nancy, his wife, was 
sister to William and Oliver. William 
married his cousin. The daughters of 
William and Nancy died, leaving no chil- 
dren. Oliver, the younger son, married 
Euphemia Bishop, when thirty years of 
age, by whom he liad four sons and as 
many daughters. He lost one son, James 
D., in the war for the Union. William 
and Frank both died in 1881, Frank leav- 
ing a wife and child, who are now at Lon- 
donderry, Ohio. John, the second son of 
Oliver Ashenhurst, resides in Missouri. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



511 



Oliver's daughters were marriuJ, aiul are 
living in the West or Soutiiwest. Oliver 
Ashenhwrst was a soldier in the War of 
1812. He was a volunteer, going into the 
service at twenty years of age. He lived, 
after his marriage, until his family were 
grown up, on Eagle Creek, Brown Co., 
Ohio. Thence he removed with his 
family to Mercer County, 111., where he 
died. 

John Ashenhurst, the elder son of 
William and Nancy Ashenhurst, was born 
in County Tyrone, Ireland, aljout the 
year 1773 and immigrated with his parents 
to America, in 1793. He had been reared 
in the Church of England, but having 
settled, soon after his arrival in this 
countr}', in Brooke County, Va., he be- 
came connected with the Associate Church 
at Cross Creek, under the pastoral care of 
Rev. Thomas Allison. He married, in 
1802, Miss Mary Young, and to them 
were born ten children, first five daughters, 
and after this five sons, two of the latter 
dying in infancy. John Ashenhurst en- 
listed in the War of 1812, and was honor- 
ably discharged at the close of the war. 
In 1817 he removed, with his family, to 
Brown County, Ohio. There he lived 
for many years, and in 185,") went to Dal- 
tnn, Wayne County, Ohio, where he died 
in May, 1850, aged eighty-four years. 
Nancy, the eldest daughter of John and 
Mary Ashenhurst, married Valentine 



Bishop. Their children are in Illinois 
and Missouri. Margaret married Garret 
Snedaker. Their children are still in 
Brown and Adams Counties, Ohio. Es- 
ther mai'ried William Lane. They are in 
Illinois. Ella married Stephen Bayles. 
They had but one son; he lives in Kansas. 
Elizabeth married Oliver Robinson. 
They had several sons and one daughter. 
William Ashenhurst, son of John and 
Mary Ashenluirst, was born in Brooke 
County, Va., in 1816, and married Mary 
Mahaffey in 1843. They had four chil- 
dren born to them. He lived on the old 
homestead in Brown County, Ohio, but 
was on the point of moving to Illinois, 
when, before his preparations were com- 
pleted, he was murdered by two of his 
wife's brothers, who escaped [>unishment 
by the influence of secret oath-bound fra- 
ternities. His wife afterward removed to 
Illinois with her children, a daughter and 
three sons. She died in a short time 
after her removal to the West. The 
daughter and sons are still living in 
Western Illinois. Some of them, at least, 
have families. James Young Ashenhurst, 
son of John and Mary Ashenhurst, was 
born in Brown County, Ohio, in the year 
1818; was licensed to preach by the Re- 
formed Dissenting Presbytery in 1845. 
The presbytery uniting with the Associate 
Synod, he became a minister of that 
church. Tiie Associate Synod uniting 



512 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



with tlie Associate Reformed Synod in 
1858, and by this union forming the 
United Presbyterian Church, he became 
a member of that body. James Young 
Ashenhurst was married to Miss Martha 
Johnson, of Belmont County, Ohio, June 
6, 1844. He was settled at Short Creek, 
Va., and afterward in AVayneCounty,Ohio. 
He removed to Hayesville, Ashland 
County, in 1856. After a pastorate there 
of sixteen years he removed to Meck- 
lenburg, Va., in 1872; from thence to a 
farm in Belmont County, Ohio, and subse- 
quently to Wooster, Wayne County, Oliio. 



hM( ICHAEL SHELLY, a prosperous 
\rl farmer of Wayne County, was 

j -^ born in Cumberland County, 
Penn., March 7, 1811. His fa- 
ther, Jacob Shelly, was born in Pennsyl- 
vania, where he grew to manhood. He 
married Miss Eliza Snavely, daxighter of 
Peter Snavely, and in 1828 came to Wayne 
County, later returning to Pennsylvania 
to dispose of his property, and in 1830 
located permanently in Wayne County, 
where they spent the remainder of their 
lives, Mrs. Shelly dying first, in 1849, at 
the age of seventy-three years. She was 
the mother of nine children, of whom 
Michael is the only one living in Wayne 
County. Mr. Shelly died in 1853, aged 



eighty-two years. He was a farmer by 
occupation, and of German descent. 

Michael Shelly spent his early years on 
his father's farm, and in 1828 came to 
Wayne County with his parents, and pur- 
chased land. In 1835 he was married to 
Elizabeth Houser, daughter of Jacob and 
Catherine Houser, and a native of Dau- 
phin County, Penn., where she was born 
January 18, 1815. In 1834 she came to 
Wayne County, where her parents died. 
After their marriage Mr. Shelly and his 
wife made their home in Plain Township, 
where they have ever since resided. Ten 
children have been born to them, as fol- 
lows: Christian, living in Plain Town- 
ship; Michael, deceased; Jacob, on the 
home farm ; Peter, living in Ashland 
County; Joseph, in Fi-ankliu Town- 
ship; Eliza, now Mrs. David Melliuger; 
Sarah, now Mrs. Robert McAffee, living 
in Wooster; John, in Plain Township; 
Mary, Mrs. William McQuigg; Susan, 
Mrs. James Alexander, in Plain Township. 
Mr. Shelly is a Republican in politics, 
and both he and his wife are members of 
the Lutheran Church. 

As a pioneer Mr. Shelly has witnessed 
the growth of Wayne County from a wil- 
derness to one of the fairest spots in the 
country. By his own industi-y, intelli- 
gence and good judgment, he has not only 
aided in the development of the commu- 
nity, but he has achieved a substantial 




(y?7'u>^^^ -(^^ '<^^^f^ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



515 



success for himself. He hns progressed 
with the country, anil is regarded as one of 
the represeutative farmers of Wayne 
County. He has the respect and affection 
of ail who know him, and his circle of 
acquaintances is a wide one. 



TV DAM D. SCHULTZ is a son of 
/j\ Nicholas and Catherine (Schaffer) 
JJ -^ Schultz, natives of Germany, who 
came to America and first located 
in Apple Creek for some time. They 
are now engaged in farming in East Union 
Township, Wayne County, and are prom- 
inent members of the German Reformed 
Church. Adam D. Schultz, whose name 
heads this sketch, was born in East Union 
Townshij), Wayne County, October 14, 
1800. He was sent to the public schools, 
and afterward learned the blacksmith's 
trade and carriage manufacturing. In 1880 
lie established his present business, that 
of carriage making, in Apple Creek, mak- 
ing a specialty of manufacturing fine 
buggies, and employing six men, the en- 
terprise completing about sixty contracts 
per year. In 1880 Mr. Schultz married 
Miss May, daughter of Charles Boydston, 
of East Union Township, Wayne County, 
and by this union they have one child, 
Belle May. Mr. Schultz is a stanch 
Democrat; he and his family are consist- 



ent and worthy members of the Apple 
Creek Methodist Episcopal Church. 



EP. WILLAMAN, druggist and gro- 
cer, of Smitliville, AVayne County. 

' Ohio, is a son of John and Mary 

( Wintrode) Willaman. He was born April 
4, 1859, in Smithville, where his entire 
life has been passed. His primary edu- 
cation was received in the common schools 
of his native town, and was suj>plemented 
by a course in the normal school at 
Smithville. After completing his educa- 
tion he entered the store of liis father, 
then the leading merchant of Smithville. 
On the retirement of his father from 
business, the concern was taken by E. P. 
and his brother, Lee J., in partnership, 
thej' carrying on the dry goods, drug and 
grocery business in the fine, large, double 
brick building built by their father, on the 
southeast corner of Main and Milton 
Streets, in Smithville. The firm name 
was John AVillaman's Sons. This part- 
nership continued until April 27, 1883, 
when it was dissolved, the elder brother 
carrying on the dry goods department fur 
a short time longer, when he sold it out. 
The drug and grocery depai'tnient was 
taken by E. P. Willaman, who has ever 
since conducted it very successfully, and 
by energy, strict attention to lousiness 



516 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



and good management has built up the 
best trade in Smithville. On April 8, 
1880, Mr. Willaman was married to Anna, 
daughter of John and Lizzie Dresher, who 
have been for many years residents of 
Smithville, but were living in Chicago 
when Mrs. AVillaman was born, on March 
4, 1855. They have three children: John 
J., Glenn Dresher and Mary Edith. Mr. 
AVillaman is a young man of much energy 
and enterprise. He attends closely to his 
business, and by watching the wants of 
his trade and keeping his stock well sup- 
plied, and selling for a fair margin, has 
made a fine trade. He is justly regarded 
as a rising young man, who is bound to 
take a leading place in the business cir- 
cles of his native town. 



D, R. J. H. RUGGLES was born in 
Ij Schoharie County, N. Y., July 13, 
— 1831, sou of H. B. and Elizabeth 
(Peak) Ruggles, former a native of Mas- 
sachusetts, and latter of Schoharie County, 
N. Y. They came to AVayne County, 
Ohio, in 1837, and located at Jackson, 
Canaan Township, where the father car- 
ried on the manufacture of harness, sad- 
dles, trunks, etc. He afterward engaged 
with Kimble Porter, proprietor of a stage 
route, acting as his agent, from Buffalo 
to Detroit for ten years. He then went 



to Cincinnati, and took charge of a ' bus 
line ; also examined all the cavalry horses 
obtained there for the cavalry service in 
the AVar of the Rebellion, his family in 
the meantime continuing to live in Canaan 
Township. His wife died in 1862, and he 
in 1878. Their family consisted of the 
following-named children: J. H. and one 
daughter, Julia, now the wife of Lyman 
Cotton, son of Esquire Cotton ( deceased ) , 
of Creston, Ohio; they reside in St. Paul, 
Minn. 

J. H. Ruggles came to AVayne County 
when six years of age, and received his 
classical education at Seville Academy. 
He first read medicine with Dr. Moore, of 
AVooster, Ohio, and afterward with Dr. Rob- 
ison, finishing with Dr. George, of Jackson, 
Ohio. He attended the AV^estern Reserve 
College of Cleveland, and graduated from 
the Charity Hospital Medical College of 
Cleveland, Ohio, in 1862. Dr. Ruggles 
began the practice of medicine at Jackson, 
and remained there five years; thence 
moved to Clyde, Sandusky Co., Ohio, for 
six months, and from there moved to 
Creston, AVayne County, where he has 
since been engaged in an extensive prac- 
tice. He is a member of the Northeastern 
Ohio Medical Association, and of Seville 
Lodge, No. 74, F. & A. M. In 1856 
the Doctor married Miss Sarah Jane, 
daughter of Hollis and Sarah Stebbins, of 
Lockport, N. Y.. and l)y tliis union they 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



51' 



Lave liad four children: Emma A., de- 
ceased wife of Casper Johnson; Belva, 
wife of Hexter Hellinger, of Canaan Town- 
sliij) (has two children, Montrood and 
Fern); Ella and Carrie, at home. Dr. 
Ruggles conducts a farm in connection 
with his profession. He is a Republican 
in politics, and a prominent member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which 
he is treasurer. 



E 



DWARD F. KEELING is a sou of 
William and Lucy (Fullard) Keel- 
ing, natives of England, who immi- 
grated to America in December, 1833, 
and in the spring of 1834 came to Wayne 
County, Ohio, where they purciiased a 
farm in Milton Township, and here lived 
until their deaths. Edward F., their only 
child, was born at Woodhurst, Hunting- 
donshire, England, December 29, 1823. 
He accompanied his parents to this coun- 
ty when only ten years of age, and has 
since been engaged in farming in Milton 
Township. He erected, and operated for 
a number of years, the first saw-mill in 
Milton Township. In 1854 Mr. Keeling 
ninrriod Mary, daughter of Daniel John- 
son, of Medina County, Ohio, and two 
children were born to them, both of whom 
died in infancy. Mr. Keeling is a mem- 
ber of the Democratic party, and has 



served as justice of the peace for two 
terms, notary public for two terms, and in 
various other township ofiices. He was 
active in clearing the township during 
the War of the Rebellion. 



djOHN MOWERY (deceased) was 
born in Greenbrier County, Va., in 
— the year 1800. He was a son of 
JoliQ Mowery, who, with his wife, was a 
resident of Wayne County. His father's 
family consisted of himself, one brother 
and nine sisters, all of whom are dead ex- 
cept two sisters, namely: Mrs. Nauc)- 
Fiers, who resides at Stockdale, Ind., and 
Mrs. Catherine Lowery, who resides in 
Congress Township. Waj-ne Co., Ohio, 
the former being about eighty years of 
age, and the latter eighty-nine. John's 
mother died in Greenbrier County, Va., 
when he was about six years old. When 
John was fourteen years of age, his 
father removed to Wayne County, accom- 
panied by his children. He first settled 
on a farm about two miles and a half 
west of Wooster. The father, being of 
limited means, was compelled to support 
his family l)y doing labor, in whicii his son, 
John also engajied with him. I'ntil over 
nineteen years of age John's chief employ- 
ment was the clearing of land and mak- 
ing of rails, in which he was an expert, 



518 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



dexterously wielding an ax weighing nine 
pounds, made expressly for him by a 
blacksmith. By his father's permission, 
after he was nineteen John set out in the 
world for himself, his only capital at that 
time being his good moral character, tem- 
perate habits, energy and industry. His 
physical constitution was remarkable. 
Though not a large or robust man, he was 
strong, active and vigorous, always enjoy- 
ing perfect health, never having been con- 
fined to his bed by disease until his last 
illness, which was of but a few days' dura- 
tion. He died at the residence of John 
N. Mowery, in Chester Township, Wayne 
County, on the 3d day of June, 1884, in 
the eighty-fourth year of his age. 

When twenty years of age John pur- 
chased seventy acres of laud in Perry 
Township, then in Wayne, but now in 
Ashland County, near the present town of 
Eowsburgh, and these seventy acres formed 
the nucleus of the large fortune which he 
acquired. On the 1st day of June, 1820, 
he was united in marriage with Miss Mar- 
garet Adams, of Congress Township, 
Wayne County, a very worthy lady, with 
whom he lived in the utmost hai'mouy 
until her death, which occurred in 1856. 
The issue of this marriage was Thomas, 
Nathaniel, John N., Dr. Michael E., Sa- 
rah (Mrs. Jacob Snell), a son who died 
in infancy, and Rebecca, his youngest 
daughter, who died in 1879. Early in 



his history, after marriage, Mr. Mowery 
became the owner of a quarter section of 
; land in Chester Township. Owing to this 
land being to some extent overgrown with 
hard brushwood, and there being several 
John Mowerys in the neighborhood, he 
was called Hard John Mowery, by which 
title he was well known throughout the 
j country. As a leading financier, money 
I loaner, a man of sturdy habits, strict in- 
tegrity, honesty, great industry and re- 
markable energy, he had acquired a wide 
reputation. For forty years previous to 
his death Mr. Mowery was deeply inter- 
ested in religious matters. Having no 
education, and being thus unable to read 
or write, he was compelled to rely on his 
wife and other good friends to read to him 
the truths of the Bible. For two years 
he devoted the greater part of his time, 
as a pupil of his wife, in gaining an edu- 
! cation and reading and studying the sa- 
' ci'ed scriptures. By earnest prayer, hum- 
bleness of heart and repentance he real- 
ized a change of heart to such a degree 
that he became converted and a full be- 
liever in the atonement. After his con- 
version he became a changed man, and 
lived a strictly upright life, believing, 
when death called him home, his soul 
would ascend to Heaven, and be with God 
and Christ forever. 

Mr. Mowery, at his death, was the owner 
of 1,100 acres of laud in Wayne County, and 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



oiy 



personal property valued at about S125,- 
000, all of which he accumulated by his 
own industry. As a pioneer he entered 
the forests, which he leveled with his 
great ax, making the dense wilderness 
blossom as the rose, even while the sav- 
age Indian's scalping-knife gleamed in 
the sunshine and moonlight about his 
cabin. He was domestic in his habits, 
but a kind neighbor, ever courteous, and 
sharing the good-will of every one. In 
politics he was a Democrat of the Jefifer- 
sonian school, a supporter and admirer of 
Andrew Jackson. Calling his children to 
his bedside, bidding them all farewell, his 
last words were: "Now I will go to 
sleep." Mr. Mowery made no will for 
the disposition of his estate, which is en- 
joyed by his surviving children, consist- 
ing of four sons and one daughter. 




ILLIAM A. RATHBUN was boru 
in Chester Township in IB-to, a 
— ' son of Samuel and Elizabeth 
(Edmunds) Rathbuu, and is the youngest 
of a family of nine children. Tiie Rath- 
bun family is recognized as among the 
most prominent in the county. Samuel 
was born in Rochester, N. Y., in the year 
1800, and all of his life has been spent in 
farming. He left his native home with 
his parents when fourteen years of age, 



and settled in Wayne County, Ohio. 
William A. now sui)erintends the work on 
his father's farm, which comprises 105 
acres of valuable land. He is among the 
more intelligent men engaged in farming. 
He is a member of the Masonic fraternity 
and I. O. O. F., and of the Evangelical 
Church. He casts his suffrage with the 
Prohibitionists. 



J(OHN K. SALTSMAN, son of John 
Saltsmun, a native of Westmore- 
— laud County, Penu., was born Sep- 
tember 5, 1825, in Jefferson County, Ohio, 
whither his father had come with his par- 
ents when only twelve years old. The 
latter married in Jefferson County, and 
there reared a large family, and died in 
his seventy-fourth year. The subject of 
this sketch, after leaving Jefferson Coun- 
ty, located in Carroll County, Ohio, for 
two years, and in the fall of 1860 lie and 
his family became permanent citizens of 
Congress Township, Wayne County. July 
3, 1855, he was united in marriage with 
Miss Jane Barclay, daughter of Joseph 
and Jenuette Barclay, both natives of 
Scotland, who in an early day immigrated 
to America, settling in Carroll County, 
Ohio, where they lived many years, both 
dying at an advanced age. To Mr. anil 
Mrs. Saltsmau have been boru seven chil- 



520 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



dren. They have for mauy years been 
identified with the Presbyterian Church 
of West Salem, Wayne County. Our sub- 
ject now owns the old home place of John 
Mosier, who was one of the early comers 
into Congress Township, and entered the 
laud upon which Mr. Saltsman now lives. 
The latter has at all tines been deeply in- 
terested in the private and public improve- 
ments of his township, and stands high in 
the estimation of the community. 




S. KOBISON, sou of John and 
Evan (Stucky) Kobison, was born 
-* in Centreville, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
in 1851. His grandfather, Charles 
Kobison, who was oi Scotch descent, and 
a native of Baltimore, Md., removed to 
Pennsylvania. Hei-e he married Elizabeth 
Lickerty, and then located in Centreville, 
where he spent the remainder of his days. 
His widow then moved to Shi-eve, where 
she had her home until her decease. Their 
children were John (see below), Marga- 
ret (she married David Keggs, and lo- 
cated in Centreville, from which place 
they removed to California, thence to 
Pike's Peak, wherehe died), David (fore- 
man in car-shops at Tiffin, Ohio), James 
(killed by the Indians on the plains), 
Sarah (now Mrs. Oliver Bills, of Michi- 
gan), Joseph (deceased, his residence 



having been in Wayne Township), Eliza- 
beth (now Mrs. Henry Snyder, of Cen- 
treville, Ohio), Lydia (the late Mrs. 
Edward Lake, of Big Prairie, Ohio), 
Charles (foreman in car-shops at Flint, 
Mich.), Susan J. (now Mrs. John Bu- 
chanan, of Flint, Mich.), Cornelius (a 
resident of Shreve), and Ellen (now Mrs. 
Peter Housel, resident of Shreve). Simon 
Stuck)', maternal grandfather of our sul)- 
ject, was a native of Virginia, and a sol- 
dier in the War of 1812, at the close of 
which he removed to Harrison CountA-, 
Ohio, where be married a Miss Baker, 
and settled in Centreville, being among 
the pioneers of that village, and where 
they remained during their lives. To 
them were born three children: Pollv 
(married Custard Bunting, when they 
located at Centreville, where he died and 
she still resides), Lydia (now Mrs. 
Joseph Geissinger, of Centreville) and 
Evan (the late Mrs. John Robison, of 
Shreve). 

John Eobison, the first son of Charles, 
and father of M. S., was born in Franklin 
County, Penn., in the year 1822, where 
he received an elementary education, and 
remained until 1839, in which year he emi- 
grated to Ripley Township, Holmes Co., 
Ohio, where he married Evan, daughter 
of Simon Stucky, of Virginia. They then 
located at Shreve, where he began his 
business career as a village blacksmith. 



WAVXE COUNTY. 



u'Jl 



and later became proprietor of a grocery, 
bakery ami retail clothing store, owner of 
a mill, as well as owner and genial land- 
lord of the Kobison House, a hostelry 
noted for its excellence throughout the 
county. Mr. Robison has always been a 
Democrat, and from time to time has been 
made the recipient of political favors. He 
was the first one of his party to be elected 
justice of the peace in Clinton Township, 
has lu^ld various positions since, and 
after the incorporation of Slireve he be- 
came its second mayor. He has always 
been one of the able and prominent citi- 
zens, identified at all times with its local 
enterprises, and largely interested in edu- 
cational matters, having erected several of 
the school buildings of his township. 
Ever a man of broad views, he has been 
just, generous and scrupulously honora- 
ble in all business transactions, not given 
to forcible expression of his sentiments, 
thereby rendering his opinion more valu- 
able ; a desirable host, a devoted husband, 
a kind and affectionate father. Mrs. Rob- 
ison died Deceml)er 17, 1884, since when 
he has made his home with his son, M. S. 
Their family are Jacob H. (who married 
Eliza, daughter of Daniel Batdorff, of 
Shreve, where they located; at the begin- 
ning of the late war he enlisted, and died 
in the army), Elizabeth (now Mrs. 
Matthias Keller, of Millersburgh ; Mr. 
Keller entered the army, was captured, and 



died in prison at Andersonville), May 
Jane (now Mrs. George Gates, of Lou- 
donville, Ohio), Darius (who married 
Mary Jane Smith, and is now a resident 
of Mansfield, Ohio), John M. (who mar- 
ried Emma Filby, and is now a resident 
of Shreve), Alraina (now Mrs. John 
Davy, of Atchison, Kas.), Ellen H. (now 
Mrs. AVilJiam Hall, of Shreve), and M. S. 
The subject proper of this memoir at the 
early age of twelve years started in life 
to work out his own destiny. He engaged 
in various occupations in several States, 
until, in 1809, he married May C, daugh- 
ter of John P. Wise, of Clinton Town- 
ship, this county, and his first business 
venture was as a blacksmith, in Shreve, 
in 1870; later he was in the boot and 
shoe trade, and proprietor of a market, 
but eventually returned to his former vo- 
cation, and in 1879 re-established his 
blacksmith and carriage works at Shreve, 
which he conducted successfully until 
1888, when fire destroyed his buildings, 
entailing a heavy loss. Not disheartened, 
however, he at once became proprietor of 
the Robison House, enlarged its capacity, 
refitted and refurnished it throughout, 
and under his able management it is rap- 
idly becoming the popular hotel at Shreve. 
May C, his wife, died in August, 1880 • 
she was a lady who ably filleil the jiosi- 
! tion of wife and mother, and one emi- 
nently fitted to adorn the position she 



held, uot ouly in the domestic but social 
circle. Her children are Bertie, Lulu, 
Howard M. and Walter. 

Mr. Kobison, in December, 1881, mar- 
ried Almedia, daughter of Samuel and 
Rebecca Shrimpler, of Killbuck, Holmes 
Co., Ohio, and their home is as stated 
above. Mr. Eobisou is a member of 
Garfield Lodge, No. 528, F. & A. M. of 
Shreve; Shreve Council No. 27, K A., 
and of Killbuck Ruling No. 79, F. 
M. & C. He is also identified with the 
Democratic party, and he and wife are 
members of the Disciples Church. 



E 



'jBER B. CONNELLY was born at 
Morristown, Ohio, August 12, 1828, 
and died October 13, 1883. For 
nearly thirty years he had been a resident 
of Wooster, the first ten years of the time 
working at the tailor's trade. About the 
close of the war he went into the hotel 
business, assuming tlie proprietorship of 
the old AVashington House, on the corner 
of East Liberty and Buckeye Streets. 
His widowed sister-in-law, Mrs. Linda 
Connelly, now Mrs. A. M. Parrish, took 
charge of his domestic affairs, and be- 
came the popular and skillful hostess of 
the hotel. Together they worked, and by 
careful and judicious management accum- 
ulated means sufiicient to supplant the 



old wooden building with a handsome, 
substantial and well-appointed brick 
structure, which now occupies the site of 
the old Washington House. The new 
hotel was built in 1878, and was named 
"The Archer House," in honor of Mrs. 
Connelly's son Archer, deceased. 

Mr. Connelly was a successful, accom- 
modating landlord, and was ably assisted 
in the management of the fine hotel by 
his sister-in-law. Mr. Connelly died a 
bachelor. His father died in the prime 
of life, and his mother afterward mar- 
ried a Mr. Findley, who also died, and 
after the death of her second husband, 
found a home with her son. She survived 
him only about six months, dying in 1884 
at the age of eighty-six years. Mr. Con- 
nelly was a man of genial and affable 
manner; of solid and strict business in- 
tegrity; of a generous, kind-hearted dis- 
position; of determined and settled con- 
victions, and of uncompromising prin- 
ciples. In his business he formed many 
friendships and acquaintances, and was 
alwa3s well thought of and universal- 
ly liked. As a citizen he was always 
public-spirited, and was ever ready to 
lend a helping hand to aid any enterprise 
that would contribute to the prosperity 
and advancement of his city. In politics 
he was an uncompromising Republican. 

The remains of Mr. Connelly were 
interred in the family lot in Oak Hill 



WAYNE CO UN TV. 



525 



Cemetery, and bis memory is still held 
dear by hosts of friends and acquaintances. 



djACOB B. FKANKS is a son of Aaron 
I and Kebecca (Willoughby) Franks, 
natives of Fayette County, Peun., 
who came to Wayne County in 1827, and 
located in East Union Township, where 
they remained one year, and then pur- 
chased eighty acres of land one and one- 
half miles east of Moorland, where they 
carried on farming and stock-breeding. 
Aaron Franks was a prominent member 
(if the Democratic party, and was infirm- 
ary director for ten years. His wife died 
in 1868, the mother of nine children, as 
follows: Isaiah, in Holmes County, Ohio; 
Jacob B., our subject; Israel, Cornelius, 
George and Elizabeth, all deceased; 
Michael, in Franklin Township, Wayne 
County ; Abigail, wife of Wallace Benebee, 
also in Franklin Township, and Aaron, on 
the homestead. Mr. Franks married for 
his second wife Miss Ann Zaring. No 
children were born to this union. Mr. 
Franks died in 1883, and his widow now 
resides in Wooster, Ohio. 

Our subject was born in Fayette County, 
Penn., January 6, 1826, and was brought 
to Franklin Township, Wayne County, by 
his parents, at the age of one year. He 
was reared on the farm and sent to the 



schools of his township, where, with the 
exception of sixteen years spent in East 
Union Township, he has always lived. 
In 1852 Mr. Franks married Elizabeth, 
daughter of John Rowland, of Holmes 
County, Ohio, and eight children have 
been born to them, of whom two died in 
infancy. The others are as follows: 
Isaiah N., in Franklin Township, Wayne 
County, married to Margaret, daughter of 
Andrew Miller, of Franklin Township, and 
they have four children — Tilden, Jacob 
E., Alwilda and an infant; Matilda, living 
at home; Rachel, wife of Charles Math- 
ews, of Holmes County, Ohio, has one 
child; James, at home; Maria, wife of 
William Lawrence, of Plain Townshij), 
Wayne County, has one child, Warren; 
and Amzi, at home. Politically Mr. 
Franks is a Democrat, and he has held 
nearly all of the township offices. He is 
a member of Franklin Grange; holds the 
office of treasurer and trustee of the 
Moorland Methodist Episcopal Church. 



D 



PVAVID C. COOK, ESQ., is a son of 
Robert and Jennie D. (Cummings) 
Cook, former a native of Butler 
County, Penn., and latter of Indiana 
County, Penn. Samuel Cook, the pater- 
nal grandfather of David C, came to 
Wayne County, Ohio, in 1810, and en- 



526 



WAYNU COUNTY. 



tered a tract of 175 acres of land in what 
is now Sugar Creek Township. He was 
a school-teachei',and taught the first school 
in Sugar Creek Township. He served as 
justice of the peace for many years, and 
was a prominent member of the Daltou 
Presbyterian Church. He died in Sugar 
Creek Township in 1867. David Cum- 
mings, the maternal grandfather of David 
C, settled in Crawford County, Ohio, 
about 1818, where he lived and died. He 
reared eleven children, viz. : Sylvanus, 
deceased ; Robert, father of David C. ; Asa, 
living 'near Dalton ; James, in Salt Creek 
Township, Wayne County; John, who 
died in 1887; Samuel P., deceased; Jesse, 
in Sugar Creek Township, Wayne County; 
Josiah, deceased; Christian, deceased; 
Mary, wife of Lincoln Pancost, of Medina 
County, Ohio, and Jennie, wife of Abijah 
Cary, of Medina County, Ohio. 

Robert Cook was born December 3, 
1803, in Butler County, Penn. June 18, 
1881, he married Jennie D. Cummings, 
and located on the farm in East Union 
Township, Wayne County, where he now 
resides, and is still occupying a part of 
the first house he built. He helped to 
■erect the first school-house in East Union 
Township, and took an active part in get- 
ting men to serve in the late Rebellion. 
He is a Democrat in politics, and has 
held various township offices. He has 
been a ruling elder in the Dalton Presby- 



terian Church for over thirty-five years. 
Mr. Cook reared a family of seven chil- 
dren, all of whom are living, viz. : David 
C. ; Samuel M., in Crawford County, Ohio; 
Sylvanus G., on the homestead; Rebecca, 
wife of William McCullough, of East 
Union Township, Wayne County; Eliza, 
wife of James Sharp, also of East Union 
Township; Nancy J., wife of J. A. Bone- 
witz, also of East Union Township, and 
Mary E., wife of Daniel W. Forrer, of 
Orrville, Ohio. 

Of these children, David C, the sub- 
ject of this memoir, was born July 5, 
1832, and was reared on the farm and 
attended the district schools. March 29, 
1855, he married Miss Maria, daughter 
of Daniel Weaver, of Baughman Town- 
ship, and they settled on their present 
farm. Five children have been born to 
them: Robert C, in East Union Town- 
ship, Wayne County, married to Elizabeth, 
daughter of Henry Jennings, of Fred- 
ericksburgh, and has one child, Clara 
Edna; William H. and David Howard, 
living at home; Laura is the wife of 
.Jacob B. Jennings, of Fredericksburgh, 
Ohio, and Ida M. is the wife of William 
Badger, of Shreve, and has two children, 
David H. and Alma May. Mr. Cook was 
drafted into the Civil War, and furnished 
a substitute. He has followed threshing 
as a business for twenty-five years in East 
Union Township. He is identified with 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



527 



the Democratic party, and has served as 
township trustee aud school director for 
many years. In 1885 he was elected 
justice of the peace, and is still serving. 
He and his family are members of the 
Dalton Presbyterian Church. 



WILLIAM K. WILSON. Among 
tlie proniinent and representative 
-' -■ farmers of Chippewa Township, 
Wayne County, is the subject of this 
sketch, who was born in Cecil County, 
Md., October 13, 1809, a son of Thomas 
and Mary (Wilson) Wilson, and of Scotch- 
Irish stock. He was reared in his native 
county,and learned tlie blacksmith's trade 
at Charleston, Md., at the head of Chesa- 
peake Bay. In 1832 he came to Oliio, 
and settled in Chippewa Township, 
Wayne County, on the farm he now occu- 
pies, which he cleared and improved, and 
where he has since resided. In 1835 he 
married Margaret, daughter of Michael 
Franks, a pioneer of Chippewa Township, 
and granddaughter of Michael aud Amy 
(Furst) Franks,of Fayette County, Penn., 
and a great-granddaughter of Michael 
Franks, a native of Alsace-Lorraine, Ger- 
many, who, witii liis father, Jacob, was 
among the pioneers of Fayette County, 
Penn. To Mr. and Mrs. William R. 
Wilson six children were born, who grew 



to maturity: Leonard W. (a prominent 
clergyman of the Methodist E[)iscopal 
Church), Fletcher, Martha (Mrs. Jacob 
Lehman), Franks, John M., and Martin, 
a Methodist divine. Mr. AVilsou has 
always been a farmer,and a successful one. 
He is a member of the United Brethren 
Church. He has represented Wayne 
County in the State Legislature two terms, 
with credit to himself and the county; 
was formerly a Democrat, but is now an 
advocate of prohibition. 



t( 



dOHN FORIIER was boru July 15, 
ISlf), in Lancaster County, Penn., 
aud is a son of John aud Elizabeth 
(Kindeg) Forrer, who came from Lan- 
caster County to Wayne County, Ohio, in 
1833 or 1834, and purchased a farm in 
Baughman Township, near Orrville, where 
they spent the remainder of their lives. 
He was a carpenter by trade, ami built 
many of the farm buildings in tiiat section 
of the county. He accumulated about 
300 acres of land, including the land now 
occupied by tiie Orrville fair grounds. 
Their family consisted of nine children: 
Martin, living in Indiana; John; Nancy, 
now Mrs. Samuel Morten, of Baugliman 
Township, Wayne Count}'; Daniel, living 
on the homestead; Henry, in Baugliman 
Township; Eliza, deceased; Eli, in Chij)- 



528 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



pewa Township, Wayne County; Martin 
and Elvina, deceased. John Ferrer mar- 
ried Mrs. Sarah Camp, of Wayne County, 
Ohio, and has three daughters: Elizabeth, 
wife of George McConnell, of East Union 
Township, Wayne County; Elmyra, wife 
of Samuel Plumer, of Orrville, Ohio, and 
Sarah Jane, wife of David Forrer, of East 
Union Township. Mr. Forrer owns a 
fine farm of ISO acres in East Union 
Township, and is one of the representa- 
tive men. He has always been a sup- 
porter of the Democratic party. 



rrVE. NORMAN B. DAWSON is a 
I I son of Eugene B. and Sarah L. 
(Moses) Dawson. Thomas Daw- 
son, the grandfather of our subject, who 
was a native of West Virginia, of Irish 
parentage, came to Wayne County, Ohio, 
in 1809, and entered a tract of laud in 
Greene Township, where he lived until 
1816, when he entered a tract of land in 
Milton Township, where he spent the 
remainder of his days. He was the third 
settler in Milton Township, and was a 
prominent man in many ways. His wife 
was Jemima Burras, of Virginia, and they 
reared twelve children, as follows: John, 
Bridget, Mary, Archibald, George, Jere- 
miah and Emily, all deceased; Thomas, 
living in Defiance, Ohio ; Castilla, wife of 



Robert Orr, of Canaan Township, Wayne 
County; Sarah, wife of Newton Brosius, 
of Tiffin, Ohio; Eugene B., in Kansas; 
Hiram B., in Seville, Medina County, 
Ohio. 

Eugene B. Dawson, the father of Dr. 
Norman B., was born in Milton Town- 
ship, Wayne Co., Ohio, December 16, 
1832. He received his education at the 
district schools and Canaan Academy, and 
has always followed farming. In 185-4 he 
moved into Hancock County, Ohio, where 
he remained ten years; then returned to 
Milton Township, where he resided until 
1878, in which year he moved to Garnett, 
Anderson Co., Kas., where he now lives. 
He took an active part in Republican pol- 
itics in Wayne County, and was a member 
of the Westfield Universalist Church. He 
was married, in 1853, to Sarah L. Moses, 
and by her has six children yet living: 
Norman B., our subject; George P., in 
Kansas, employed in the State Lunatic 
Asylum; Lydia E., also employed in the 
Kansas State Lunatic Asylum; Wallace 
W.. Watt W. and Mina. all at home. 

The subject proper of this biographical 
memoir was born in Hancock County, 
Ohio, January 2, 1856, and his education 
was received at the district schools and 
Baldwin University, at Berea. He read 
medicine with Dr. J. H. Wallace, of Smith- 
ville, Oiiio, graduating from the medical 
department of the Cincinnati College of 



WAVNE COUNTY. 



529 



Medicine and Surgerj'. Februar)' 28, 1878, 
and has since been practicing his profes- 
sion at Sterling, Ohio. He is a member 
of the Northeast Ohio State Medical Asso- 
ciation, and also of the State Medical 
Association. He is a member of Seville 
Lodge, No. 74, F. & A. M., Sterling 
Lodge, No. 173, K. P., and Sterling 
Council, No. 818, R. A., for which he is 
medical examiner. In 1882 the Doctor 
married Miss Adeline, daughter of John 
and Margaret Pettitt, natives of France, 
and settlers in Milton Township, Wayne 
County. By this union there is one 
child, Sarah Emily. Politically Dr. Daw- 
son is a Republican. 



dONATHAN S. YODER, farmer and 
j dealer in fine horses, lives on Sec- 
— tion 30, in Greene Township, Wayne 
Co., Ohio. He is a grandson of Jacob 
Yoder, a former resident of Mitliin 
Connty, Penn., who removed to Wayne 
County in 1818, being one of its earliest 
settlers. When he came here this was a 
wilderness, and on the site of the present 
city of Wooster, were but two log cabins. 
He and his family endured the hardships 
and severe labors incidental to a pioneer's 
life, but by steady industry and thrifty 
habits overcame its difficulties, and made 
a comfortable home for himself and his 



descendants. The farm he bought was 
in Wayne Township, and there the hon- 
ored pioneer lived until his death. It 
comprised 160 acres, and before his death 
he had it well cleared and fenced and 
under cultivation. In this labor he was 
assisted by his sons, and the family were 
then and are still counted among the best 
of the pioneer settlers. Illustrative of 
the obstacles against which the early set- 
tlers had to contend, it is recorded that 
the wheat raised on the farm had to be 
hauled to Cleveland, a trip of four or five 
days, and was there sold for forty cents 
per bushel. Even that market was not 
opened for some time after Mr. Yoder 
came to Ohio. At first their wheat had to 
be bartered for other produce, for goods, 
or for labor. Jacob Yoder was married 
in Pennsylvania to Barbara Hooley, and 
had a family of six sons and four daugh- 
ters, all of whom are now deceased. Their 
names were Jacob, Michael, Peter, John, 
David, Samuel, Mattie, Rachel, Lj-dia and 
Maria. 

The youngest son, Samuel, was father 
of the subject of this sketch. He was 
born in Mifflin County, Penn., in 180y, 
and died on the farm where J. S. now 
lives, on March 31, 1878, aged seventy 
years. He was ten years old when his 
father immigrated to Wayne County, and 
witnessed its development from a wilder- 
ness to one of the best counties in the 



530 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



State. His father bought a quarter sec- 
tion of land for each of his children, and 
that given to Samuel was uncleared ex- 
cept ten acres from which the brush had 
been removed and the large trees dead- 
ened. On this tract Samuel labored as 
long as he was able to work, and it is now 
thoroughly cleared and all under a fine 
state of cultivation. Some of the land 
was sold and the farm now comprises 140 
acres, through which the Pittsburg, Ft. 
Wayne & Chicago Railway now runs, 
its depot being on the road bounding it. 
Samuel Yoder was an upright man, and a 
consistent member of the Amish Mennon- 
ite Church. He had the respect of his 
fellowmen, and left to his children the 
priceless heritage of a good name. He 
was married to Catherine Naftziger, who 
was born in Germany, April 8, 1817. 
Her parents came to America when she 
was seven years old, settling in Canaan 
Township, Wayne County, where the fa- 
ther died. A few years before her death 
the mother removed to Greene Township, 
where she died. Mrs. Catherine Yoder is 
now living with our subject. She and her 
husband were the parents of eleven chil- 
dren. Jacobina is the wife of Samuel 
Plank; Jonathan comes next; Barbara is 
the wife of Rev. David Hostetler; and 
Jacob, a farmer, all living in Greene Town- 
ship; Levi is farming in Johnson County, 
Mo. ; Elizabeth, deceased, was the wife of 



A. K. Kurtz; and Martha is the wife of 
Amos Smoker, all of Greene Township; 
John is a resident of Johnson County, Mo. ; 
Menno P. lives in Wayne Towushif), this 
county ; Samuel died at the age of twenty- 
one, and David V. when one year old. 

J. S. Yoder, subject of this sketch, was 
born in a log cabin on the farm where he 
now lives, on January 3, 1840. He lived 
with his parents until his marriage, which 
took place in Lancaster County, Penn., 
where he lived the succeeding eight years, 
then returning to the place of his birth, 
which he has since made his home. He 
was married March 10, 1864, to Leah 
Stoltzfus, born in Lancaster County, 
Penn., February 28, 1841, her ancestors 
being old residents of that county. She 
died September 13, 1881, leaving seven 
children: Catherine Ellen, Sylvanus S., 
Sarah Melinda, Rachel Lucinda, Ephraim 
S., Leah and Jonathan Stoltzfus, the two 
latter being twins. Mrs. Yoder was a 
faithful and devoted wife and mother, a 
woman of deep religious feeling, and an 
active member of the Amish Mennonite 
Church. In October, 1883, Mr. Yoder 
was again married. Miss Mary L. Zook 
becoming his wife. She was born in 
MilHiu County, Penn., in November. 1840, 
of parents who were old residents of that 
county. Mr. and Mrs. Yoder are both 
members of the Oak Grove Amish Men- 
nonite Church, and botli are teachers in 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



531 



its Suuilfty School. Air. Yoiler bears the 
reputation of a thoroughly honest and 
trustworthy man, and as such is justly 
held in esteem by all who know him. 




LBERT C. WILES is a son of 
David and Seviila (Heckert) 
Wiles, natives of Preston County, 

West Virginia. They came to 
Wayne County November 4, 1828, and 
entered the west half of Section 20, in 
Canaan Township, making the last entry 
of Government land in the township. 
They started in life poor, and by hard 
work, perseverance and industry accu- 
mulated a large property, which they 
divided among their children. Mr. Da- 
vid Wiles will be remembered as a be- 
nevolent, enterprising man, who always 
took an active part in public affairs. 
His wife died November 15, 1882, and 
he on March 24, 1886, both being mem- 
bers of the Canaan Methodist Episcopal 
Chuicii. Their children who are living 
are Rebecca, wife of Abraham Deahutf, 
of Akron, Ind. ; Daniel, in Canaan Town- 
ship, Wayne County; Salinda, wife of 
John Fike, in Canaan Township, Wayne. 
County; Eliza Ann, wife of Abraham 
Musselmon, of Alma, Neb.; David, in 
Yorktown, Iowa; Jennie, wife of H. AV. 
Taylor, in Canaan Township, Wayne 



County; Caroline, wife of Gideon John- 
son, in San Francisco, Cal. ; Joseph M., 
in Canaan Township, and Albert C. 

The subject of this memoir was born 
December 10, 1847; was educated at the 
Township schools and Canaan Academy, 
and for five years taught the township 
schools; also taught music for seven years. 
Since then Mr. Wiles has followed farming, 
moving onto his present farm in Canaan 
Township in 1880. In 1881 he married 
Miss Kate, daughter of Allen Scott, of 
Hamilton, Ohio, and they have two chil- 
dren: Lutie Glysem and Gail Scott. Mr. 
Wiles, politically, is a Republican, and has 
acted as township clerk for ten years. 
He is secretary of the Board of Trustees 
of the Canaan Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and holds the office of lecturer in 
Canaan Grange, No. 1280, Patrons of 
Husbandry. 




S. ENFIELD, storekeeper and 
ganger. This enterprising young 
man was born in Somerset Coun- 
ty, Penn., in December, 1801, a son of 
Emanuel Enfield, now a prominent farmer 
in Wooster, who is also a native of Somer- 
set County, Penn.. Mr. Enfield followed 
farming up to his appointment to his 
present position, wiiich occurred May 1, 
1887. Politically he is a Democrat. 



532 



WAFNE COUNTY. 



L 



UCIEN GEABER is a sou of Peter 
Graber, a native of Switzerland, 
born October 11, 1822. The par- 
ents of Peter Graber were Samuel and 
Magdalene (Steiner) Graber, and with 
them he immigrated to America in 1827, 
and to Ohio. They first settled in Sugar 
Creek Township; thence moved to Paint 
Township, where the parents died. In 
1847 he married Annie Knoble, a native 
of France, and a resident of Paint Town- 
ship. Eight children were born to this 
union, one of whom died in infancy. 
Those living are Lucieu, our subject; 
Amanda, wife of David Buler, of Allen 
County, Ohio; Julia, wife of Koss Koontz, 
of Mount Eaton, Ohio; Peter, in Sugar 
Creek Township, Wayne Count}' ; Alfred, 
in Virginia; Helen, wife of Jacob 
Tschontz, of Paint Township, Wayne 
County; Louisa, wife of Arthur Fisher, 
of Wooster, Ohio. Mr. Graber is a mem- 
ber of the Democratic pai'ty, and a deacon 
in the German Reformed Church. 

Lucien Graber, the subject of these lines, 
was born February 5, 1848, and was edu- 
cated at the schools of the townshi^j. At 
an early age he learned the stone mason's 
trade, but has been principally engaged 
in farming in Paint Township, Wayne 
County. In 1879 he married Miss Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Peter Saurei-, of Sugar 
Creek Township, Wayne County, and by 
this union there are four children: Irvin 



H., Winter C, Aldine and Myrtle Edith. 
Mr. Graber has always been identified 
with the Democratic party, and has served 
as justice of the peace two terms. In 
1880 he was elected county commissioner, 
which office lie is still filling. He is a 
member of Mount Eaton Lodge, No. 274, 
Royal Arcanum, and of Wooster Lodge, 
No. 41, K. of P. He and his family are 
members of St. Paul's German Reformed 
Church. 



1l T E. HILEMAN, farmer, Chester 
\^^ Township, is of German descent, 
Jj -^ his ancestors being among the early 
settlers of this country. His father, 
Isaac Hileman, was born in Westmoreland 
County, Penn., January 25, 1797, and 
married Margaret Anderson, who was 
born in 1799, and was a daughter of 
James Anderson, of Somerset County, 
Penn. They had a family of ten children, 
viz.: John, born in 1819; James D., in 
1821; J. L, in 1823; Margaret, in 1826; 
William, in 1829; Hiram, in 1831; An- 
drew, in 1834; Nancy, in 1837; Harvey, 
in 1840, and Annis, in 1843. But three 
of this family are now living. Isaac 
Hileman was left fatherless when nine 
years of age, and he was early thrown on 
his own resources. When fourteen years 
of age he began to learn the trade of a 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



533 



sluieiunkor. at wliii-li he worked for a 
miinber of years. He moved to Wayue 
County, Ohio, when a young man, his first 
purchase of land being in Sugar Creek 
Township. He there bought eighty acres, 
whieli he cleared, and at the same time 
worked at his trade. He lived there 
tlaee years and tlien bouglit 170 acres iu 
Chester Township, the greater part of 
wliicli was heavily timbered. Here he 
built a log cabin for the temporary use of 
his family. He then went to work at 
clearing his laml, hewed tlie timber, and 
subsequently built a comfortable frame 
house. His farm, which he brought from 
a tract of timber to one of the best farms 
in the county, is the reward of years of 
hard toil and unremitting energy, and is 
still in the possession of his family. Mr. 
Hileman died iu 1875, his wife surviving 
him until 1879. 

H. E. Hileman, our subject, is one of 
the native sons of Waj-ne Count}', and 
one of its most enterprising citizens. He 
received a common-school education, and 
from his youth has devoted his attention 
to agriculture. He now owns the home- 
stead of Ills father and lias erected a fine 
residence and other farm buildings, whicii 
make it one of the most desirable homes 
in the county. He has been prominent 
in political circles and has held the offices 
of township treasurer and trustee. He 
casts his suffrage with the Rejiublican 



party. Mr. Hileman was married in 18r)7 
to Miss Minerva Mowery, daughter of 
John C. Mowery. They have two chil- 
dren, Wallace and Jennie. 



G CAPTAIN DAVID MITCHELL, son 
h of James and Elizibetli (Kerr) 
Mitchell, was born in Jefferson 
' County, Ohio, March 22, 1820. His fa- 
I ther, who was a native of Pennsylvania, 
' and a soldier in the War of 1812, came to 
Ohio, and located near what was afterward 
I known as Mitchell's Salt-works, iu Jef- 
, ferson County, where he reared a family 
of ten children, and died in October, 1865. 
The mother of our subject was a native of 
Ohio, and a daughter of James Kerr, an 
early pioneer of Jeffer.son County, Ohio; 
she died in 1844. Capt. Mitchell was 
married iu Jefferson County. Oiiio, Oc- 
tober 8, 1854, to Miss May Saltsman. who 
1 bore six children, three of whom are now 
living. 

Cfiptain Miteliell, in May, iStil, raised 
a company (composing 107 men) of Home 
Guards, in Ross Township, Jefferson Co., 
Ohio, whicii, in the followinj; June, was 
mustered into the militia reserve. In Se|(- 
tember, 18(51, the Captain ap[)Iied for and 
obtained an order from the governor of 
Ohio to raise a volunteer company for the 
the three years' service, and in a few days 



531 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



after receiving the order he had a com- 
pany raised of hardy and determined vol- 
unteers. This company was mustered in 
at Camp King, near Covington, Ky., Oc- 
tober 3, 1861, and transferred to the Sec- 
ond Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Col. L. A. 
Harris, which was assigned to the First 
Brigade, First Division, Fourteenth Army 
Corps, Army of the Cumberland. Col. 
Harris and his regiment participated in 
all the important battles in which that 
corps was engaged, some of the most 
notable being Perryville, battle of Stone 
Kiver, Chickaraauga, with Hooker at 
Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, 
Resaca, and numerous otlier minor en- 
gagements. On the 14th of May, 1864, 
while attempiug to storm the breastworks 
at Resaca, Capt. Mitchell, while lead- 
ing on his men, was struck in the leg by 
a minie ball. He managed to crawl off 

CD 

the field, and was later carried to the field 
hospital, where he remained only a short 
time, liaving a thirty days' furlough. Al- 
though badly wounded, and having the 
privilege of retiring, the Captain, at the 
expiration of his furlough, nobly returned 
to the front. After three yearS' service, 
Capt. Mitchell and the shattered rem- 
nant of his company were mustered out, 
receiving an honorable discharge at Co- 
lumbus. Ohio, October 10, 1864. 

Our subject was engaged in mercantile 
pursuits prior to his enlistment, and when 



the war ended, he returned to his old 
home in Jefferson County, Ohio, and to 
the present time he has since almost un- 
interruptedly been engaged in merchan- 
j dising. From Jefferson County he came 
to West Salem, Wayne County, June 7, 
1867, and has here since resided. Genial 
and pleasant, now at the age of sixty 
years, he is enjoying comparative repose, 
though never idle, and exhibits as much 
determination to fight out the battle of 
life as he did when leading on his brave 
volunteers to crush out the Rebellion. 



Ml ICHAEL FERTIG, a well known 
farmer of Wayne Township, was 
JJ -^ born in Lancaster County, Penn., 
in 1815, the youngest of three chil- 
dren of Michael and Barbara (Oberlin) 
Fertig, also natives of Lancaster County. 
His father was a farmer and a day laborer, 
and about 1835 came to Wayne County, 
Ohio, with his wife and daughtei-, and 
made this his home until his death which 
occurred in August, 1838, when he was 
aged fifty years. 

Michael Fertig, Jr., came to Wayne 
County when about twenty-five years of 
age. He first found etnploj'ment on a 
farm, working by the day until 1856, when 
he purchased the farm where he now lives. 
This farm contains thirty acres of good 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



535 



i 



liiiul, well improved aud uutler good cul- 
tivatiou. No man in the county has 
worked harder and more faithfully 
through life than Michael Fertig, and 
none are more deserving of success. He 
was married in 187S to Sarah Hoffman, 
daughter of Henry Hoffman. They have 
no children. Mr. Fertig is a member of 
the Lutheran and his wife of the Re- 
formed Presbyterian Church. In politics 
he is a Democrat. 




OBEET E. McAFFEE is one of 
the most intelligent and progressive 
farmers of Chester Township. His 

father, Samuel McAffee, is a highly 
respected citizen of the same township. 
Samuel McAffee was born on the sea coast 
in County Antrim, Ireland, December 25, 
ISOi, the eldest of eight children, six 
sons and two daughters, of Willinia and 
Margaret (Taggert) McAffee. He re- 
mained in his native country until twenty- 
one years of age, when he set sail for 
America. Landing in Philadelphia, he 
remained in Pennsylvania for three years, 
when he returned to his native country, 
where he remained ten years. In 1838 
he married Grace Stinson, daughter of 
Rev. David Stinson. In the same year, 
with his wife and his parents, and their fam- 
ily, he again came to America, and they at 



once made their homo in Wayne County, 
Ohio, where the father bougiit a (quarter 
section of land in Sugar Creek Townshij), 
where he made his home until his death, 
at the age of seventy-six years. Samuel 
McAffee, from the date of his coming to 
Wayne County, devoted his attention to 
farming. In 1850 he bought the home 
where he now lives, which contains 106 
acres of land, well improved. It was orig- 
inally the property of Jacob Kreamer. To 
Mr. McAffee and his wife, 7iee Grace Stin- 
son, were born six children, viz. : John, 
Martha, Joseph, Sai'ah, Mary and Samuel. 
The mother died and Mr. McAffee after- 
ward married Susan Girl, daughter of 
William Girl. Six children have been 
born to them: Robert E., Susan, Matthew 
(deceased), Kate. Grace and David. 

Robert E. McAffee was born in IbM), 
and has all his life been identified with 
the interests of Chester Township. He 
now superintends the work of the home 
farm, thus relieving his father of care and 
responsibility. He has always taken an 
active interest in the welfare and govern- 
ment of his township, and has served sev- 
eral years as township trustee and school 
director. In politics he is a Republican. 
He was married in 1869 to Mary, daugh- 
ter of Joseph McHelinery, of Wayne 
County. They have a family of nine 
children, viz.: Leopold, Thomas L., Mar- 
ietta, Annie, Edward, Frederick, Bertha, 



536 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Jennie and Kate. Mr. and Mr. McAffee Church. Mr. Mowery casts his suffrage 

are members of the United Presbyterian with the Prohibition party. 

Church. 



IV T/ ATHANIEL MOWERY is a native 
ipy of Chester Township, Wayne Co., 
J) " Ohio, born in 1836, the third son 
of John Mowery, a pioneer of this 
county. In recording the history of the 
lives of the citizens of the county we find 
that none have been more successful than 
Nathaniel Mowery. He now owns a fine 
farm of 600 acres, on which are excellent 
building improvements. Although Mr. 
Mowery has accomplished so much in a 
personal way he has still found time to de- 
vote some attention to the affairs of his 
township, having always been among the 
foremost to advance the material, social 
and educational interests. As an evidence 
of tlie esteem in which he is held by his fel- 
low-citizens we note that for fifteen years 
he has been a school director. Mr. Mow- 
ery was married in 1858 to Miss Elmira S. 
Hartman, daughter of Samuel and Eva E. 
(Wonsetter) Hartman, of Chester Town- 
ship. To them have been born nine chil- 
dren, seven of whom are living: Eliza- 
beth, now Mrs. Hill; Sarah E., at home; 
Martha, now Mrs. Ecker; Emma, Viola, 
John and Oren. Mr. and Mrs. Mowery 
are members of the Methodist Episcopal 



GAPTAIN BENJAMIN F. MILLER, 
son of Benjamin and Martha 
^-' (Hemphill) Miller, natives of Penn- 

: sylvania, was born October 2, 1832, at 
Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland Co., Penn. 
John Miller, the grandfather of Benjamin 
F., came to Wayne County, Ohio, about 
1825, and located in Wayne Township, 
where he was engaged in fai-ming. He 
died there in 1846. Benjamin Miller, 
father of Benjamin F., and the eldest of 
John's family, was born in Juniata County, 
Penn., in 1799. He remained with his 
parents until eighteen years of age, when 
he went to Westmoreland County, Penn., 
and here he met tlie lady whom he mar- 

] ried. After this event they first located 
at Stewart's Station in the same county. 
In 1846 thej' came to Wayne County, 
and took up their residence in Wayne 
Township for about one year, when they 
purchased a farm in Chester Township, 

' same countj-. In 1863 they retired from 
the farm, and moved into Wooster, where 
they spent the remainder of their lives. 
Mr. Miller was an active member of the 
Whig, and afterward of the Republican, 
party, and filled several township offices 

I in Chester Township. They died in 1880 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



53' 



and 1879, respectively, prominent mem- 
bors of the Associate Reformed Church. 
They reared a family of nine children, all 
of whom are living except Margaret, who 
married John Cherry, and died in Iowa. 
Those living are Elizabeth, wife of David 
B. Funk, of Wooster, Ohio; Nancy, wife 
of John Long, also of Wooster; John, in 
Chester Township; Sarah Ann, wife of 
Thomas Van Sweergin, of Congress Town- 
ship, Wayne County; Mary, a maiden 
lady, also in Wooster; Benjamin F., our 
subject; Derinda, a maiden lady, in 
Wooster, and Lucinda, wife of Alex 
Postleweight, in Orrville. 

Tiie subject of this sketch came to Wayne 
County with his parents in 1846, and was 
reared on the farm, receiving his educa- 
tion at the township schools. In 1848 he 
pi'oceoded overland to the Rocky Mount- 
ains and California, spending four years 
in that section. In August, 1862, he en- 
listed in Company D, One Hundred and 
Twentieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and 
was promoted to fifth sergeant, then to 
first lieutenant, and finally to captain of 
his company. He was captured at Snaggy 
Point, La., on the Red River steamer 
" Belle," and confined at Camp Ford, near 
Tyler, in Northeast Texas, for thirteen 
montiis. He and some fellow prisoners 
esca[)ed in December, and reached the 
northern lines in March, having traveled 
between 600 and 700 miles. He then 



served his country until his honorable 
discharge at Columbus, Ohio, June 30, 
1865. After the close of the war Capt. 
Miller returned to farming and lumbering, 
and in 1874 he purchased his present 
farm. September 28, 1865, he married 
Miss Julia A. Baumgardner, daughter of 
Peter Baumgardner, of Wayne Township, 
and they have one child, Ora Eveline, 
living at home. Capt. Miller votes the 
Republican ticket, and although living in 
a Democratic township has held various 
oifices, having served as school director 
for twelve years. He is a member of 
Givens Post, No. 133, G. A. R., of 
Wooster, and is a prominent member of 
the Wooster Presbyterian Church, having 
served as one of its trustees for six vears. 



djACOB NAFTZGER (deceased) was 
born in Harrison County, Ohio, in 
— 1812, the second of seven children 
of Jacob and Elizabeth (Miller) Naftzger. 
His father was a native of Pennsylvania, 
but came to Ohio in a very early day. 
Jacob Naftzger, Jr., began life a poor boy, 
but by industry and good management 
became a wealtliy man, owning at iiis 
death over 1,000 acres of land in Harrison 
and Wayne Counties. In 1841 he mar- 
ried Miss Susan Gotshall, daughter of 
Daniel and Mary (Harpelhoru) Gotshall, 



538 



JVAYNE COUNTY. 



former a native of Pennsylvania and a 
pioneer of Harrison County, Ohio. Mr. 
and Mrs. Naftzger had a family of eight 
children, six of whom are living: Cath- 
erine, Daniel, Eliza, Alice, Emma and Al- 
exander. Mr. Naftzger died in 1888, and 
his widow now lives in Wayne Township, 
at the comfortable home left her by her 
husband, her daughter Alice, a refined 
and intelligent lady, being at home with 
her. Mr. Naftzer was in his political 
views a Democrat. He always took an 
interest in the public affairs of his town- 
ship, but was never aa aspirant for official 
honors. 



T ll AEVEY W. TAYLOR was born in 
irH Lehigh County,Penu., February 15, 
JJ -' 1803. His parents are David and 
Emma (Long) Taylor, who now re- 
side in Philadelphia. In 1880 Mr. Tay- 
lor came to Wayne County and engaged 
as a laborer on the farm of David Wiles, 
in Canaan Township, Wayne County, and 
June 6, 1886, he married Miss Jennie 
Wiles, and they have since resided on the 
homestead farm. Mr. Taylor is a mem- 
ber of C. W. Sharp Camp, No. 170, Sons 
of Veterans; Canaan Grange, No. 1280, 
Patrons of Husbandry, and of the Canaan 
Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he 
is a trustee. He is a member of the Pro- 



hibition party, and has served as township 
supervisor. 



AMUEL ERASE was born in Chip- 
pewa Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, 
^^'' October 23, 1825, and is a son of 
John and Catherine E. (Lash) Erase, 
natives of Washington County, Penn., 
who settled in Chippewa Township, Wayne 
County, about 1820, locating on the nortli- 
west quarter of Section 36, now owned 
and occupied by families of the same name. 
John Erase was a tailor by trade, and 
paid for the clearing of his farm with the 
earnings of his needle, and had it mostly 
cleared before his sons were old enough 
to assist him. His family consisted of 
twelve children, viz. : Jacob, Henry, Peter, 
Catherine (Mrs. William Weygandt), 
Cornelius, John, Solomon, Samuel, David, 
Jonathan, Mary A. (Mrs. John Holm), 
and Mai'garet (Mrs. Jonas Erase). 

Samuel Erase, subject of this memoir, 
was reared in Chippewa Township, Wayne 
County, and has always been engaged in 
farming. With the exception of fifteen 
years he lived in Baughman Township, 
Wayne County, he has resided in Chip- 
pewa Township, where he has helped to 
clear and improve several farms. Mr. 
Erase was three times married: first to 
Eleanor, daughter of George Zimmerman, 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



sao 



of Bnugliinan Township. "Wayne County, 
and by lier be bad two (.'bildren: Jobu 
J. and Mary R. (Mrs. Samuel Corney- 
bani). Mr. Frase's second wife was Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Jacob Shoe, of Chip- 
pewa Township, Wayne County, and by 
her he has had ten children, of wliom are 
living Orrin, Lemuel, Henry, Clara (Mrs. 
George Schriber), Frank, Ida, Allen and 
Elder B. Our subject's third wife was 
Mrs. Elizabeth (Lutz) Limbacli. Mr. 
Frase and his wife are members of the 
Lutheran Church. He has served two 
terms as township trustee; iu politics he 
is a Democrat. He is one of the promi- 
nent, influential farmers of his township, 
and the family are nuicii respected. 




i^ESLEY A. HUFFMAN. Among 
the prosperous and representa- 
tive merchants of Doylestown, 
Chippewa Township, Wayne County, there 
is no one who retains the confidence and 
esteem of its citizens and those of the 
surrounding country to a greater extent 
than the subject of this sketch. He was 
born in Chippewa Township, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, August 25, 1846, and is a son of 
Daniel and Ann (Huffman) Huffman, 
both natives of Switzerland and pioneers 
of Chippewa Township. His paternal 
grandfather, Daniel Huffman, and mater- 



I 
nal grandfatlier, Jacob Huffman, were na- 
tives of Switzerland, and among the 
pioneers of Chipi)ewa Township. [For 
history of the former see sketch of Daniel 
V. Huffman]. Jacob Huffman liad fivi^ 
children who grew to maturity, viz. ; 
Frederick, John, Jacob, Ann and AIniira, 
all now deceased but Frederick, who re- 
sides in Butler, Ind. 

AVesley A. HutTman was reared and 
educated in his native township, and be- 
gan life as a farmer, which occupation he 
followed until twenty-six years of age. In 
1.S7-4 he embarked in the hardware trade 
in Doylestown, in which he still continues, 
the present firm being known as W. A. 
Huffman & Co. Mr. Huffman married, 
September 23, 1884, Ella Smyser, of 
Wooster, Ohio, and by her has one son, 
Charles S. Mr. Huffman is a member of 
the Masonic fraternity, the Royal Arca- 
num and Methodist Episcopal Cliurch. In 
politics he is a stanch Republican. 



DR. J. W. LEHR, one of the rising 
young physicians of Wayne Coun- 

ty, is the eldest of two ciiildren 

of Abraham and Susan R. (Carl) Lehr, 
former a native of Wayne County, and 
botii of German descent. The Doctor lias 
one sister. Miss Florence Lehr, a young 
lady of pleasing address and popular in 



540 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



social circles. He was educated in the 
common schools of his township, and also 
attended the Smithville Academy, and 
Ada College. In 1880 he began the study 
of medicine under the preceptorship of 
Dr. C. J. Warner of Congress, and the 
same year entered the medical depart- 
ment of the University of Wooster, from 
which he graduated in 1883. He at once 
opened an office near his old home, 
settled down to the practice of his pro- 
fession, and has met with good success. 
He is building up a large practice, and is 
recognized as one of the first physicians 
of the county. He is a hard student, and 
aims to excel in his chosen profession. 
He is a stanch supporter of the principles 
of the Republican party. The Doctor is 
still a single man. 



li Ml AHALETH McCONKEY, daugh- 
^j ter of Thomas and Elizabeth Mc- 
I -^ Coukey, was born on the farm 
she now owns in Clinton Township, 
Wayne Co., Ohio, in 1818. Her grand- 
father, William McConkey, lived here 
with his children for a few years, and 
died here. Thomas and Elizabeth Mc- 
Conkey were married in Fayette County, 
Penn., and, removing to Wayne County, 
settled near Wooster, later entering the 
farm which their daughter, Mahaleth, now 



owns in Clinton Township. Their children 
were Ruth, deceased wife of William 
McFarlan, of Clinton ; Elizabeth, the late 
Mrs. Samuel Shreve, of Wayne County ; 
Anna, the late Mrs. Enos Dye; William, 
(deceased) ; Orpha, the late Mrs. Daniel 
Dye; Mahaleth; Naomi, now Mrs. Adam 
Everly, of Shreve; Reason, (deceased); 
May A., the late Mrs. David Wells; 
Rachel, the late Mrs. Samuel B. Sterling ; 
all, it will be observed, being deceased 
but two — Mahaleth and Naomi. 

Mahaleth McConkey received an inher- 
itance from her father of nearly 300 acres 
of land, and later purchased the old home- 
stead in Clinton Township, where she now 
lives, the buildings having been erected 
since her purchase. Her father was a 
justice of the peace for six years, in pol- 
itics a Democrat. The parents of Mahal- 
eth were members of the Christian 
Church, of which she is also a member. 



ffOSEPH MILLER, proprietor of the 
K I Miller House and livery stable, 
—^ Burbank, is a son of John and Ellen 
(Rooling) Miller, natives of France, who 
settled on the Rock River in Medina 
County, Ohio, where the father still lives, 
engaged in stock-dealing. The subject 
of this memoir was born in Medina County, 
Ohio, January 14, 1837, and received a 





I^.X/ ^ 




WAYXE COUXTY. 



543 



limited education at the township schools. 
He learned tiie blacksmith's trade which 
he worked at in Cleveland and other 
places. In 1860 he came to Burbauk, 
Wayne County, and followed his trade for 
six years, then purchased the hotel which 
has since been known as the " Miller 
House." Mr. Miller sent a substitute to 
the War of the Rebellion, and claims to 
be the only man drafted from Burbank. 
He is a veteran stage driver, having con- 
ducted the mail route from Wooster to 
Belden, Lorain Co., Ohio, and also a 
route to Cleveland. In 1861 he married 
Miss Lizzie, daughter of Andrew Stein, of 
York, Medina County, and by her he has 
four children: William, in Burbank, mar- 
ried to Miss Tiny Gorman ; Lizzie, wife of 
Edward Gipe, in Uhrichsville, Ohio; Rose, 
wife of Frank Watsou, in Burbank, and 
Jennie, at home. Mr. Miller is an active 
member of the Republican party. 



JOSEPH HUNTER. This well- 
I known citizen of the city of AVooster 
"-' is one of the oldest living residents 
of Wayne County, having spent seventy- 
seven years within its borders. He was 
born in Beaver County, Penn., November 
19, 1809, and was but three years old 
when his parents settled in Wayne Coun- 
ty. His father, David, was born in Wash- 



ington County, Penn., in 1770, and his 
grandfather was a native of Ireland, who 
came to America long anterior to the Rev- 
olution. David Hunter was married to 
Jane W^ilsou, of Pennsylvania, of Scotch 
and Irish descent. They had six sons 
and four daughters born to them, of whom 
three are now living in Wayne County. 
The father came to this county alone, in 

1812, and selecting a location for a farm, 
in what is now East L^nion Township, 
built a log cabin thereon, and then, in 

1813, brought his family from his old 
home to begin their pioneer life in the 
primeval forest. On that farm he and his 
good wife reared their family, in the usual 
manner of the pioneers of that day. The 
boys had but little chance for schooling, 
because when old enough they had to 
shoulder the ax or handle the hoe to con- 
tribute their part to building up the new 
home. The land was cleared, the farm 
cultivated, the children well reared, and 
in 1848 David Hunter rested from his 
toil, at the age of seventy-eight years. 
He was one of the members of the old 
Seceder Church. In 1864 his widow fol- 
lowed him to the grave, aged eighty-three 
years. 

Our subject remained with his parents 
until reaching manhood, and took his 
share of the hard labor which was insep- 
arable from the pioneer's life. He learned 
the trade of a carpenter, as well as farm- 



544 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



ing, and woiked at it for some time, but 
his principal work has been the latter, and 
in after life he bought the farm which 
his father located, and which he himself 
had helped to clear. In September, 1834, 
Mr. Hunter was married to Elizabeth, 
daughter of John and Susan Kester, a 
native of York County, Penn. She bore 
him seven children, and in 1867 she died 
at the age of fifty-six years. She had 
well performed her part in building up 
the new home,and had brought up her chil- 
dren to be good men and good women. The 
children were John, now a resident of 
Apple Creek, Wayne County; Eleanor, 
living also at Apple Creek; Jane, wife 
of John Caldwell; Harry, a resident of 
Wooster; James, Benton and Joseph are 
deceased. 

In 187C) Mr. Hunter was again married, 
his wife being Mrs. Mary Christine, 
daughter of John and Elizabeth Strine, 
of Salt Creek Townshiji. She was born 
in Holmes County, Ohio. Both of her 
parents are deceased. Mr. Hunter, in 
1859, removed to the edge of Apple Creek, 
and made his home there until 1878, 
when he came to Wooster, and has since 
made his home in his comfortable resi- 
dence on Pittsburgh Avenue. His life 
has been one of labor and of usefulness, 
and the ease which he is enjoying in his 
declining years has been well-earned. He 
is known in the county as one of its old 



and esteemed citizens, although he has 
never been very prominent in public af- 
fairs. Twice, however, he filled the of- 
fice of land appraiser in East Union Town- 
ship, a position requiring good judgment 
and much tact. He and all his family 
are well spoken of by all who know them 
as good citizens. 



r ffARVEY HOWARD BISSELL, 
IpM junior member of the dry goods 
JJ — firm of Bissell Bros., was born 
in Wooster in the month of flowers 
and when the air is all sweetness — June 
25, 1847. He is the grandson of Hon. 
John Sloane, the youngest son and child 
of Dr. Samuel Norton and Eliza Bissell, 
and was not yet ten months old when his 
father died, which event was a sad and 
serious loss to him, as the death of a duti- 
ful parent to an uprising family is always 
a catastrophe to be lamented. But, under 
the watchful care of his mother, his foot- 
steps were carefully guided and he grew 
to manhood with a full realization of what 
life was, what it was to be, and the part 
he was to play in its coming drama. His 
education was obtained at the Wooster 
schools, and when, at a quite early age, he 
withdrew from them, he dropped into the 
uncertain whirl of business, when he soon 
found himself anchored as a clerk in the 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



5i5 



flour auil feed traflio. After serving in 
tliis capacity for a period, he engaged in 
the grocery and provision business, and 
from this sphere of service, February 22, 
1875, he entered into partnership rela- 
tions in the mercantile business with his 
brother, J. S. Bissell, which still contin- 
ues. He was married September 28, 
1875, to Miss Melissa, daughter of Joseph 
Marshall, of Blatchleyville, Wayne Co., 
Ohio, three children being the issue of 
this union, viz: Ellen E., Edgar J. and 
Milah S. Mr. Marshall, the father of 
Mrs. Bissell, is infirmary director of 
Wayne County, having been elected in 
1883 and re-elected in 1886. He is an 
exceedingly popular man in his party, and 
like his son-in-law, the subject of this 
sketch, is a Democrat. He is a man of 
good business qualifications, reliable and 
honest in public and private life, and, as 
an oflScer of the county, has thus far ac- 
quitted himself with credit and ability. 

As we have indicated, Mr. Bisssell is a 
Democrat, but he has no official aspira- 
tions, acting and voting with his party as 
he is in harmony with its principles. He 
became a member of the Order of Free- 
masonry in 18G9, joining Ebenezer Lodge, 
No. 33, Wooster, Ohio. In 1876 he 
joined Wooster Chapter, No. 27. He was 
made a Knight Templar June 20, 1880, 
at Massillon Commandery, No. 4. He is 
a charter member of the Koyal Arcanum, 



Wayne Council, No. 13, instituted in 
Wooster September 5, 1877. His wife is 
a member of the Disciples Church at 
Blatchleyville, and her husband, though 
a patron of the church, is not a niember. 
The domestic virtues preponderate in him, 
and his home circle is charming and 
pleasant. Under his own roof and by 
his own fireside he realizes the best 
phases and truest enjoyments of life. He 
is as true as the needle to the pole, but 
betray his confidence or do him an in- 
justice, or otfer him an indignity, and 
there rises instantly to the surface the 
dynamic grit of his nature. He is of 
quiet, retiring disposition, but does his 
own thinking, acting vigorously and 
promptly as occasion demands. He is 
possessed of genial manners and great 
kindness of heart, quick to notice an in- 
tended injury, but not so quick to for- 
give or forget xinless the proper restitu- 
tion is made. He has a strong will, 
united with extraordinary firmness and 
decision, and after carefully considering 
the matter, the granite of his nature 
hardens into the granite of the bills, and 
he becomes immovable. He gives the 
closest attention to business, and is tem- 
perate, steady and economical in his hab- 
its. He is liberal, earnest and active, 
never hesitating to perform his share of 
the work about him, in fact, is well adapt- 
ed to the vocation he has chosen for his 



546 



WAYXE COUNTY. 



life work. The cast of his mind is prac- 
tical; he has the bearing of one devoted 
to Imsiness, is well built and strong, has 
a phj'sical constitution that insures pro- 
longed vitality, and that patient persever- 
ance which never tires, and moves stead- 
ily forward in the path he has marked. 
He has, through all his years of work, 
endeavored to live along the line of busi- 
ness fairness and moral rectitude, seeking 
to do what is right, and remembering 
that what you believe to be so, when you 
are required to act on any subject, is right 
for you at that time, whether it may be 
absolutely, or in the opinion of others, or 
even of yourself at another time. 



T[ OHN SLOANE BISSELL. Men of 
J^ I business capacity, force and intelli- 
^^ geuce need no factitious introduc- 
tion to the public attention. The posi- 
tions of honor, influence and power in 
commerce, statemanship, or, in fact, in any 
field, are not always occupied by men of 
the highest intellect or ability. Many 
who possess the best and most valuable 
attainments and who are qualified for the 
highest service pass quietly through life, 
unhonored and unsung. An accident fre- 
quently thrusts the greatness of position 
upon a man, though he may be too small 
to fill the measure of his luck. He who 



makes himself strong and a factor to be 
known and felt, by his tact, energy and 
skill, is greater than he who swings in 
the web woven about him by the spider of 
circumstance. From an humble begin- 
ning, a clerkship in a dry goods store, the 
subject ef this sketch has grown into mer- 
cantile strength and to such proportions 
that thefirmof Bissell Brothers is a house- 
hold word in the business exchanges of 
the community. 

John Sloane Bissell was born in the 
city of Wooster, October 13, 1839. His 
father. Samuel Norton Bissell, was a 
native of Oneida County, N. Y., where he 
was born January 22, 1809. He studied 
medicine with his uncle, Hezekiah Bissell, 
then practicing medicine in Wooster, and 
graduated from the Medical College at Cin- 
cinnati, where he at once formed a part- 
nership with his uncle. He rapidly rose 
to eminence in his profession and distin- 
guished himself in every branch of it. 
He was a man of fine physique, slightly 
inclined to be corpulent, yet lithe, active 
and possessed of remarkable physical 
courage and strength. His intellectual 
qualities were of a high order. He was 
an ardent friend, a courteous gentleman of 
unquestioned integrity, aud endowed with 
a benevolent and chivalric natiire. He 
was a Whig in politics, at times active iu 
the service of his party, s^ipplyiug the 
press with brilliant criticisms and re- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



541 



views of the acts and attitudes of the dif- 
ferent parties. He was elected associate 
judge of the Common Pleas Court in 
1845. He was married September 25, 
1832, to Eliza, daughter of Hon. John 
and Ruth Sloane, and died June 13, 1848, 
in the splendid noontime of his useful- 
ness and activity. To this marriage there 
were born eight children, all of whom 
are dead except John 8. and Harvey H. 
The mother died June 14, 1871. 

The subject of this biography is a 
grandson of the Hon. John Sloane, a 
sketch of whom follows. His father died 
when he was in his ninth year, buthewas 
fortunate in having a mother left to guard 
his youthful years, and instruct and pre- 
pare him for the conquests, knock-downs, 
ambitions and despairs of the world. He 
had the advantage of the village schools, 
of which he availed himself for a number 
of years, and afterward was upon the roll 
of [tupils at the academy of Prof. Hill. 
Under the stimulus of his mother's in- 
fluence and impelled by a desire to ob- 
tain a good English education, he pro- 
secuted his studies with diligence and 
vigor. At the age of seventeen he en- 
tered the store of D. H. King & Co., on 
the corner, where he and his brother are 
now engaged in business, and after eight 
years of subordinate service he became a 
partner of R. R. Donnelly, who had pur- 
chased the store of Mr. Plumer. He re- 



maineil in business with Mr. Donnelly 
until the latter's death, in 1875, which ter- 
minated the partnership. In February of 
this year he formed a partnership with his 
brother, Harvey Howard Bissell, which 
has since continued, and the firm is one 
of the recognized and responsible mercan- 
tile establishments of the city and county. 
In 18(16 he was united in marriage to 
Miss Luciuda Leas, a native of Stai'k 
County, Ohio, an estimable and accomp- 
lished lady of happy domestic qualities. 
By this union there were born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Bissell five children, all of whom are 
living: Arthur L., Samuel L., John S., 
Daisie E. and Jeanette. 

Mr. Bissell may strictly and truthfully 
be denominated a business man. He de- 
votes his entire and undivided attention 
to it, supervising its details and giving it 
the closest attention. In his transactions 
as merchant he is systematic, cautious and 
trustworthy, with well defined methods of 
business and exacting a rigid compliance 
to them. In politics he is a Democrat, 
and during the war, though he did not 
enter the military service, where, we be- 
lieve, he would have distinguished himself, 
he was a pronounced Unionist, giving his 
time and means to the cause of the erovern- 
ment. When Sumter was fired on ho rallieil 
around the flag, and when the news came 
from Appomattox, from his housetop 
he unfurled the banner of freedom. He 



548 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



has at times been active in politics, more, 
however, from a sense of duty, than from 
any personal ambition. 

He joined the fraternity of Masons in 
1867, Ebenezer Lodge, No. 33, Wooster, 
Ohio, and Tras worshipful master for six 
years, is a member of Wooster Chapter, 
Royal Arch Masons, and has held posi- 
tions from secretary to captain of the 
Host, which position he is now holding 
and lias held for eight years. He is 
a member of Wooster Council No. 13 
Royal and Select Masters, and has occu- 
pied positions for a number of years. He 
is a Knight Templar, and assisted in or- 
ganizing Wooster Commandery, No. 48, 
which is in process of being constituted, 
and which has its charter granted by the 
Grand Commandery of the State of Ohio. 
He has familiarized himself with the work 
in the higher departments of Masonry, 
and his services are frequently in demand 
as a worker. He is a charter member of 
the Royal Arcanum, Wayne Council No. 
13, instituted in Wooster, September 5, 
1877. His wife is a member of the Lu- 
theran Church, and he is a regular attend- 
ant, though not a member of any I'eligious 
denomination. In private life he is social, 
genial and pleasant, and in conversation, 
as in business, he is quick, vital and ani- 
mated. He believes that life is a kind of 
tracery, a blending and interlacing of sun- 
shine and shadow, and that the variety of 



pains and pleasures, of fears and hopes, 
which we encounter in life, is but a re- 
freshing breeze that fills the sails of the 
vessel and sends it gaily forwai'd. No one 
enjoys life better than he. He is of me- 
dium weight and statm-e, sound as a pillar 
in the Sistine Chapel, muscles knitted like 
webs of steel, and in possession of perfect 
health. His hair is dark, with which his 
eyes are in harmony, and his complexion 
is a clear olive. He occupies a desirable 
position in business and social circles, and 
is respected for his accomplishments 
there, as well as for those finer and in- 
herent attributes which pervade the com- 
position of the real man and gentleman. 
His firm championship of that which he 
believes to be right, his well understood 
moral and physical courage, love of justice, 
integrity, morality and clear view of honor, 
are conspicuous traits of his character. 
His business career has been forward and 
successful, yet he has the courage to con- 
front disaster if it comes as well as pros- 
perity, and would see under the frown of 
defeat the smile of victory. On the ruins 
of to-day are built the temples of to-mor- 
row. According to the legend of Virgil, 
when Troy fell its banished citizens 
reared a mightier city on the Tiber. He 
is kind hearted and generous, and cherishes 
the warmest affection for his family. He 
honors his ancestral line, and entertains a 
just pride in preserving its memory. He 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



549 



has veneration which enables him to look 
up, and sympathy which enables him to 
look down. To the stranger and the foot- 
weary pilgrim he will bring a morsel of 
bread, water for his thirst, and he shall 
rest within the shadows of his tent. 

Hon. Johx Sloane* was a native of York 
County, Penn., but at an early period he 
moved with his father's family to Washing- 
ton County, in the same State, then to Jef- 
ferson County, Ohio, before the admission of 
the State into the Union, and afterward to 
Columbiana County. 

In 1S04 he was elected a member of the 
Lower House of the General Assembly, and in 
the fall of 1805-(), was re-elected. While 
still a member of the Legislature, in the win- 
ter of 1807-S, President Jefferson appointed 
him Receiver of Public Moneys of the new 
office to be opened at Canton, in May of that 
year. He remained here until April 1, 1810, 
when in conjunction with Gen. Beall, Reg- 
ister of Public Lands, under instructions 
from the Government, he removed the land 
office to Wooster, where he continued to re- 
side until his death. H(i held control of the 
Receiver's office until March 4, 1819, when 
he resigned, having the preceding year been 
elected to Congress. During the years he 
held the office of Receiver, he became ex- 
tensively known throughout the State. By 
his public spirit and enterprise among the 
settlers of a new country, his faithful atten 
tion to his office, and his url)ane manners to 
persons transacting business with him, he 
accpiired a universal and deserved popularity, 
which manifested itself in his election to 
Congress in the fall of 1818, from a district 
embracing a large territory, over a prominent 
and tal<>nted competitor then holding a seat 
in the National Asseml)l\'. 

For t(>n years in tliat body he was a popu- 
lar and influential member, aiding and secur- 
ing the passage of laws which would contrib- 
ute to the best interests of the country and 
his constituents, maintaining and vindicating 
them with signal power and ability. 

Prominent amontr his iichieveraents in Con- 



gress was the obtaining of the enactment of 
legislation by which sections (040 acres) of 
the public lands could be divided and sub- 
divided into 320, 100 and SO acres, thereby 
enabling the early settlers to enter, or jnir- 
chaso, such number of acres of the public do- 
main as was suited to the usually limited 
capital they had for investment. This meas- 
ure, of itself, so advantageous, liberal and 
beneficent in its provisions, secured to him a 
universal commendation, and the descendants 
of the hardy pioneers and first settlers should 
yet cherish his name in grateful recollection. 

He supported ^Ir. Adams for the Presi- 
dency in preference to Gen. Jackson, and 
notwithstanding the cyclone of excitement 
that grew out of Mr. Adams' election, such 
was the powerfid grasp which Col. Sloane had 
upon the affections of the people of the dis- 
trict that he was elected a fifth time to Con- 
gress in the fall of 1820, and although the 
excitement alluded to continued to gather 
strength for the succeeding two years, yet 
such was Mr. Sloane' s popularity that in the 
Congressional race of 1828, he was beaten 
by only a very meager majority. 

In 1829, after the expiration of his service 
in Congress, he was appointed clerk of the 
Court of Common Pleas of Wayne County. 
This position he held for seven years, his 
commission bearing date March 5, 1831. 
In 1841 the Legislature appointed him See 
retary of State (of Ohio) for a period of three 
years, in wiiich capacity he served the pub- 
lic with his ])i'overbial efficiency and aV)ility. 

The last office which he hold was that of 
Treasurer of the United States, Ijv appoint- 
ment of President Fillmore, the salary then 
being $3,000, as against $0,000 at present. 
We herewith subjoin his commission, the 
property of his grandson, John Sloane Bis- 
sell, bearing the signature of the President 
and that of Daniel Webster, then Secretary 
of State: 

MILLARD FILLMORE. 

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

To till ifho fhiill SCI' tlifne presents. Qrntini/: 

Know Yk. That, reposing special trust and con- 
fidence in tlie integrity, cure and ability of .Tolin 

Sloane, of Oliio I do appoint him 

Treasurer of the United States and do authorize 



• Written l)y Ben. Douglass. 



550 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



and empower him to execute and fulfill the duties 
of that office according; to law, and to have and to 
hold the said office, with all the rights and emolu- 
ments thereunto legally appertaining unto him, the 
said John Sloane, during the pleasure of the Presi- 
dent of the United States for the time being and 
until the end of the nest session of the Senate of 
the United States, and no longer. 
In Testimony whereof I have caused these letters 
to be made patent and the Seal of the United 
States to be hereunto affixed. 
Given under my hand at the City of Washington, 
thetwent_y-seveuth day of November, in the year 
of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and 
fifty, and of the independence of the United 
States of America the Seventy-fifth. 

MlLL.\RD FlLLMOHE. 

By the President. 
Daniei, Webster, 

Secretary of State. 

During the war he was colonel of militia 
and an enthtisiastic and patriotic supporter 
of the war, advancing his own jirivate funds 
to feed and clothe and otherwise aid the 
soldiers who were in needy and distressed 
circumstances. 

We insert a letter addressed to him from 
Duncan McArthur, a Major-General of Mili- 
tia, M. C. 1823-25, and Governor of Ohio 
1830-33, which speaks for itself. 

Fruit Hill, Jan. 25, 1813. 

Dear Sir: — I have at length a leisure moment to 
attend to your business referring to the receipts and 
accounts which you have enclosed to me. I find 
that there were three hundred and sixteen (316) 
men who drew money, or rations, from you to en- 
able them to return home, and that the distance to 
their respective homes (the most of them beiug 
from Col. Findlay's Reg't.), would average fifteen 
days (15). It is certain it would have taken some 
of those men a longer and some a shorter time to 
reach their homes; i)Ut as it can make no difference 
to Government in the total amount, I can see no 
impropriety in fixing the return at the average 
time. 

At fifteen cents (15) per ration it will abotit 
cover the amount which you were so kind as to ad- 
vance. 

Indeed all must acknowledge that the men never 
iroiild Jiave readied home Jiad it not been for your 
lilKrality. 

We may well say, tliat "a friend in need is a 
friend indeed." Be assured, sir, that your kindness 
will never be forgotten by those who experienced 
it; and I trust the Government irill not hesitate to 
remunerate you for the amount which 5'ou actually 
advanced. With thanks and gratitude, I am, dear 
sir, 

Very respectfully yours, 

Duncan McArthur. 
Col. John Sloane. 



Not only did Mr. Sloane bear the rank of 
Colonel in the military service of the period, 
but he was the counselor and confidential ad- 
viser, not only of the Governor or Governors, 
diiring the struggle, but of the military 
leaders as well. His overshadowing abilities 
in civil life introduced him to, and gave him 
prominence in, the martial arena, and in the 
camp and council, his advice, good offices 
and sound judgment were in frequent requisi- 
tion. 

He was the warm personal and confidential 
friend of Henry Clay, and his admiration of 
him was reciprocated by the deepest respect 
of the brilliant Kentuckian. They conducted 
a private correspondence for over twenty-five 
years, and Mr. Bissell has carefully pre 
served many of these letters, which remain 
unpublished. Those written by Col. Sloane, 
and the replies to those written by Mr. Clay, 
approximate very closely, in strength of ex- 
pression, purity of language, vigor of thought 
and occasional pungency of style to the stan- 
dard of Mr. Clay. 

As is expressed, directly and indirectly, in 
these letters, Col. Sloane was his ti-uest, best 
and most steadfast friend; his counselor and 
adviser in matters of State and National 
concern, and this feeling of warmest friend- 
ship continued to exist until the curtain of 
time was dropped and both actors disap- 
peared. 

We introduce brief extracts from two con- 
fidential letters: 

Lexington, Kt., August 13, 1823. 

My Bear Sir: — I received .your favor of the 29th 
inst. requesting a copy of the Journals of the con- 
vention of our State, containing the votes of its 
members on the subject of slavery. * * » 

Mj' opinions are unchanged. I would still in 
Kentucky, support a gradual emancipation; so I 
would in Missouri. The question, I think in any 
State, is a good deal affected by the proportion of 
the African to the European race. In this State I 
do not think it so great as to endanger the purity 
and safety of society. But, I nevertheless believe 
that this question of emancipation of slaves, as our 
Federal Constitution now stands, is one exclusively 
belonging to the States respective)}', and not to 
Congress. No man is more sensible of the evils of 
slavery than I am, nor regrets them more. Were 
I the citizen of a State in which it was not tolerated. 
I should certainly oppose its introduction with all 
the force and energy in my power; and if I found 
myself unhappily overruled, I would then strive to 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



551 



iucorporate in the law, bj' which their admission 
was authorized, the principles of gradual emuuci- 
patlon. 

In thus disclosing to you. my dear friend, most 
freely and frankly my past and jirescnt sentiments, 
I pray you to understand the communication for 
j/oin-.^elf alone. It does not appear to be jiroper or 
delicate that I shoidd be received In any way to tes- 
tify on the subject of my own opinions. Vou are 
capable of justly appreciating tills feeling. My in- 
formation on the other subject of your letter con- 
tinues to be from all (|uarters highly encouraging. 
I reserve the details of it for the occasion when I 
shall have the pleasure of seeing you. In the 
meantime I remain 

Faithfully your friend, 

H. Cl,AY. 

The Hon. John Sloane. 

Ashland. (Jet. 4, 1831. 

^fl/ Deiir Sir: — I received your agreeable favor 
of the 24th. which breathes a spirit of jierseverance 
and cheerfulness ipiile exhilarating in com])arison 
with the despondence to which some have yielded 
themselves. # * * 

I really shoidd feel some embarrassment in a 
choice between Andrew Jackson and an anti-mason 
candidate with his exclusive, proscrlptive prin- 
ciples. I should fear that it would be a mere ex- 
change of t)'rannies. with this difference, that the 
old one is a volcano, nearly exhausted, and that 
the new one might prove to be a fresh volcano, 
emitting a stream of political lava for an Indefinite 
duration of time and of boundless extent. * » * 

In reference to the extinction of the public debt, 
I have thought, when ll does occur. 

Isl. That we may dispense with duties to the 
amount of the ten millions which constitute the 
sinking fund. 

2d. That the policj' of protection should be pre- 
served unimpaired, and enforced by additional leg- 
islation, If necessary. 

3d. That, consequently, the duties to be dis- 
pensed witli should be on objects not coming into 
competition with the products of our agriculture or 
our manufactures. 

It is possible that articles on which dulies are 
paid may not be found sufficient to disiiense with 
ten millions, without touching tliosse which ought 
to pay duties for the sake of protection. I believe 
they can. but I have not by me a Treasury report 
from which to make an estimate. But it must be 
recollected that in proportion as our manufaclurcs 
flourish and extend, the Iniporlatlon of rival foreign 
articles will diuiinish, and the consumption from 
increased populiition will hardly meet that dimi- 
nution. Should the Importation, however, not be 
checked from that cause, it would prove that the 
duty for protection was inadequate, and in that 
case the obvious remedy would be an augmentation 
of the duty. » * * 

As to Internal improvements I never have thought 
that a cent of duly ought to be paid, or continued 
for tlieir promotion. Hut as in any prudent ar- 
rangement of the tariff a deficit of revenue ought to 
be provided against by imposing duties enough, 



and as, from the fluctuations of commerce, an oc- 
casional surplus of revenue would arise, this surplus 
should be »p])!ied to Internal improvements. After 
the payment of the public debt, the proceeds of the 
public lands. I think, ought to be appropriated to 
the same object. 

For two causes the Western States ought to have 
more of this fund than any other section: 

1st. The public lands lie here. and improvements 
tend to enhance the value of them. 

3d. The Western Stales have no direct Interest 
in a navj' or fortifications. They have that com- 
mon Interest which each part has in the prosperity 
of the whole; and so have the maritime Slates an 

Interest In the Improvements made In the West. 

* * # 

These views are confidentially communicated for 
an exchange of opinions and not for any eye but 
your own. I ought to add that the charter of the 
13. of the I'. S. sliould. In my opinion, be renewed, 
on eipiltablc conditions; and, perhajis, the bonim 
might also be appropriated to internal Improve- 
ments. * « * 

Your friend. 

II. Clay. 

Hon. John Sloane. 

When .serving as Treasurer of the United 
States, Daniel Webster, Massachusetts, was 
Secretary of State; Thomas H. Ewing, Ohio, 
was Secretary of the Interior; Tom Corwiii, 
Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury; Charles M. 
Conrad, Louisiana, Secretary of War; William 
A. Graham, North Carolina. Secretary of the 
Navy; Nathan K. Hall, New Jersey, Post- 
master-General, and John J. Crittenden, Ken 
tucky, Attorney -General. In Ohio, the name 
of Col. Sloane was as familiar as that of 
Worthington, or Itugglos, or Tappan, or 
Morrow, or Burnet, or Ewing, or Corwin, or 
Allen, or ]\Iedary — men who have attained 
distinguislied honors in the pantheon of the 
State and Nation. Throughout Ohio, and, 
especially, in the northern ami eastern part, 
he accjtiired an enviable eminence as a con- 
troversialist and debater, and engaged in the 
hottest bouts and collisions with champions 
from the lists of his political adversaries. 
In joint discussion he was an expert, subtle, 
dangerotis and aggressive opjionent, and, 
thou<rh not in the true sense an orator, he 
charmed his hearers with a strong and steady 
flow of solid English, that, like the river 
Zaire, swelling onward forever, palpitated 
beneath the red eye of the sun. 

As a newspaper contributor and political 
essayist ho acquired deserved reputation, and 



552 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



in the columns of the old files of the National 
Intelligencer, Washington, D. C, to which 
statesmen and scholars have contributed from 
the time of Hamilton, Jay and Madison, to 
the day it ceased to exist, are to be found 
vigorous and stately productions of his pen. 
His diction was unmistakable, elastic, incisive, 
direct, and fi-eqixently of acid sharpness — 
never distorted into tortuosities or cased and 
slated over with metaphors and tropes. 

His invective cut through tissue and lodged 
in the bone and marrow. He assaulted an 
enemy with a dauntless energy, and his 
courage, at times tantamount to fierceness in 
an onset, had a gentleness of spirit, which, 
however, ' ' laughed at the shaking of the 
spear. ' ' 

In State and National campaigns his voice 
was "never inaudible amid 1 he wildest dis- 
sonances " of the conflict. In the conten- 
tions of the contest of 1840, when Gen. 
Wm. Henry Harrison was in the field, and 
when chivalrous belligerents on either side 
drew their brightest steel, he obeyed the war- 
whoop and the beat of drum, and sprang to 
the fight like a Gladiator, his lance lifted 
high in the front of the assaulting column. 
To Col. Sloane, Gen. Harrison was an 
ideal man, in the fact, that he possessed 
moral and intellectual greatness, and more, 
the greatness of patriotic action. 

Col. Sloane remained in Washington until 
1853, when he returned home, seeking re- 
tirement and repose of body and mind. 

Even those whom Fame has lent her fairest ray, 
The most renowned of worthy wights of yore, 

From a base world at last have stol'n away. 
So Scipio, to the soft C'umaen shore 
Retiring, tasted joy he never knew before. 

He was married to Miss Ruth Hardgrave, of 
Pennsylvania, and by this union ten children 
resulted, all save two growing to manhood and 
womanhood. Mrs. Delia Sloane is the only 
survivor, and holds at this time a position in 
the Pension Department at Washington. 

He died 15th of May, 1850, at his resi- 
dence in Wooster, after a short illness, aged 
seventy- eight years. 

The life of Col. Sloane, his public service 
to the State and Nation, his speeches, letters, 
and journalistic contril)utions should, and we 



have no doubt will, be collected and given to 
the public. He had an extensive, intelligent 
and prolonged contact with the world, and 
his experiences were on the best side of life. 
His allegiance to the truth was sincere, and 
his integrity and honor above reproach. He 
was a patriot and true man. A pioneer in 
the State, crossing its threshold before it had 
been admitted to the sisterhood of the Union, 
he lived to see a very torrent of population 
ponr into its extensive regions, which in his 
younger manhood he had traversed as a 
howling wilderness, that has been unparalleled 
in the records or march of time. His early 
years and his maturer strength were conse- 
crated to his country. His conceptions of 
freedom and its institutions were imbedded 
in his brain as truths, and entrenched in his 
character as sentiments. A partisan, to some 
extent himself, he found much to oppose in 
government and men, as he did Jackson and 
his systems, which he antagonized, as he 
would have the ideals of Rousseau. But he 
had confidence in the free institutions of his 
country, and had full faith in freedom, for 
his faith in it had not been corrupted by ex- 
perience in blood. He possessed the deep 
thought which explained principles, the com- 
prehensive thought which regarded relations, 
and the fertile thought which devised meas- 
ures. 

His life was a long one of public service, 
and he bore to the grave a character which 
envj' cannot tarnish — a true patriot and an 
honest man. 



DC. CURRY & CO. D. C. Cuny 
I and Jerome Curry are the senior 
— and junior members, respectively, 
of the firm of D. C. Curry & Co., general 
dealers in lumber and extensive manu- 
facturers of sash, doors and lilinds, etc., 
the largest establishment of the kind at 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



553 



Wooster, "Wayne County. James Curry, 
tlie father of these gentlemen, was a na- 
tive of AVestmoreland County, Pa., born 
in Is IT, came to Holmes County, Ohio, in 
1837, and thence moved to Wayne County, 
in 1853. His school training was such 
as the average boy in his day received, 
and early in life he learned the trade of 
carpenter, which he followed until coming 
to Oliio. He was carpenter on the first 
steamboat that ploughed the Missouri 
River, and which was stranded at the point 
on the river where Leavenworth, Kas., 
now stands. In 1835 he went to Texas. 
In Holmes County he followed house and 
barn building, and while there married, in 
1837, Eliza Cooper Kowland, daughter of 
John and Mary Rowland, and a native of 
Cumberland County, Pa. Seven children 
were born to this union, all but one of 
whom are yet living; their names are as 
follows: John R., born February 18, 1839 
(now deceased) ; D. C, boi-u September 
25, 1841; Margaret, born October 11, 
1843 (married to C. T. Parks, and now 
residing in Akron, Ohio); Wellington 
(born May 5, 1845, now in Bowling Green, 
Ohio) ; James M. (born November 6, 1849, 
now in Denver, Col. ) ; Mary, born July 0, 
1853 (now Mrs. F. J. Young, and a resi- 
dent of Woostei', Ohio) and Jerome, born 
April 5, 1856; all natives of Holmes 
County, Ohio, excepting Mary and Jerome, 
who were born in Wayne County. In 



1853 the family came to Wooster, where 
the father em1)arked in the lumber trade, 
laying, in a comparatively humble way, 
the foundation of the present affluent con- 
cern. June 9, 1884, he departed this life 
at the age of sixty-eight, respected and 
honored by all who knew him. He was 
an active worker in the ranks of the Re- 
publican party, and held several positions 
of trust. He was at one time mayor of 
Wooster and several terms a member of 
the city council ; was one of the trustees 
of the Girls' Industrial Home, in Dela- 
ware County, Ohio. His wife, Eliza Row- 
land Curry, was descended of an old fam- 
ily who came to Pennsylvania at an early 
date, when it was a slave-holding State. 
They owned slaves, and about 1824 man- 
umitted all they then possessed, some nine 
in number. Her grandfather Cooper was 
a soldier in the Continental army, and 
wintered at Valley Forge with Washington. 
His brother was iu the British army and 
they met at Valley Forge, where the lat- 
ter was persuaded by his brother to join the 
patriot lines. After the war the grand- 
father proceeded down the Mississippi to 
the Gulf, but he was taken sick, dying at 
Cape Girardeau, Mo. Grandfather Row- 
land was a soldier in the War of 1812. Mrs. 
Curry's father came to Holmes County, 
Ohio, in 1845, and settled on a quarter sec- 
tion of landonwhichhe set to work to build 
a cabin. Soon after arrival in the county 



554 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



his wife died, leaving the responsibility 
of nine children to Eliza (the future Mrs. 
Curry), the eldest iu the family, then only 
nine years of age. About that time, 
when the building of the cabin was com- 
pleted, all the provision Mr. Rowland had 
iu his humble home for himself and little 
ones was §1.25 in cash, and a bushel and 
a half of salt. Miss Eliza Rowland re- 
ceived only nine weeks' schooling,but she 
improved every opportunity, and by close 
observation and natural acumen soon be- 
came quite an apt scholar. At the age of 
twenty-two she married Mr. James Curry, 
and May 3, 1874-, she passed peacefully 
from earth. 

D. C. CoERY, the second born to Mr. 
and Mrs. James Curry, attended school in 
Wooster until 1857, in which year he com- 
menced to learn the art of printing in the 
office of the Republican, in that city, 
working as compositor until 1861. In i 
the spring of that year the firing on Ft. 
Sumter forced President Lincoln's call for 
75,000 men, and Mr. Curry was among 
the first to respond, enrolling himself on 
the 23d of April, that year, as a member 
of Company C, Sixteenth Ohio Volun- 
teer Infantry, three months' service, and 
upon the re-organizntion of his regiment 
he re-enlisted iu October, 1861, in Com- 
pany H, three years' service. On May 
19, 1863, he was wounded in the left arm 
and stomach at the first assault on Vicks- 



burg. Miss., aud October 31, 1864, he was 
honorably discharged. Retui'uing to 
Wooster, Mr. Curry at once took the po- 
sition of engineer in his father's plauing- 
mill, which stood on the corner of East 
Liberty Street and Beall Avenue; being 
given an interest with his other brothers 
in the concern. In the fall of 1867 the 
father and his three eldest sons — John R., 
D. C. and Wellington — purchased the lum- 
ber yard and planing-mill of Stibbs & Co., 
which they successfully carried on until 
1874, under the firm name of D. C. Curry 
& Co., when the partnership was dissolved, 
by James Curry retiring, the sons retain- 
ing the new yard on North Street, the style 
of the firm remaining D. C. Curry & Co. 
February 3, 1876, they met with a dis- 
astrous fire — their plauiug-mill and sash, 
door aud blind manufactory being entirely 
consumed, including all their machinery 
and a large stock of finished aud unfin- 
ished work. Their loss was over §20,000, 
with not a dollar of insurance. They im- 
mediately rebuilt, but were again met by 
the fiery element January 29, 1885, and 
April 13, 1887. They were carrying a 
small line of insurance, but their loss 
each time was from $12,000 to $15,000 
above their insurance. After the fire of 
April, 1887, they purchased the machinery 
and leased the building formerly occupied 
by James Curry & Sons on East Liberty 
Street, where they carried on their busi- 



WAVXE COUNTY. 



555 



ness until the summer of 1889, when they 
rebuilt on their old site on North Street, 
nddiug the latest improved machinery 
necessary for their line of work. They 
possess the oldest and do the largest bus- 
iness in lumber and manufactured work in 
Wayne and adjoining Counties. December 
•24, 18G8, Mr. D. C. Curry married Jennie 
J. Yergin, who bore him five children 
(four of whom are yet living), as follows: 
Charles Y., born November 8, 1869; 
Blanche C, born October 11, 1871; Cora 
B., who died in 1875; William, born Sep- 
tember 9, 1877, and llowland A., born 
April 3, 1884. Mr. Curry has always 
been an active Kepublicau, and has been 
a member of the city council two terms. 
He is a member of the F. & A. M., K. of 
H. and K. O. T. M., and was commander 
of Given Post, G. A. R., in 1883. 

Jerome Cirry, the youngest born to 
Mr. and Mrs. James Curr}-, was educated 
at the schools of Wooster, attending the 
junior year at the high school of that 
city. In 1870 he assumed control of a 
maciiine shop owned by his father and 
brothers, serving four years, and then for 
two years or until 1870, was associated 
with his father and brotiier in the furni- 
ture business. About that time a disso- 
lution of partnership took place between 
his father and brothers, D. C. succeeding 
the other two brothers, and with him 
Jerome found employment, on leaving the 



furniture business, until 1885, in which 
year he became associated with D. C, 
forming the co-partnershi[) which at 
present exists. December 23, 1875, Mr. 
Jerome Curry became united in marriage 
with Maggie J., daughter of Angus Mc- 
Donald, and a native of Wooster, Wayne 
Co., Ohio. Mr. McDonald was born at 
Woodside, Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1818, 
and is a son of Ronald McDonald, an old 
Waterloo veteran, who fought with the 
" Black Watch " (42d Royal Highlanders) 
which, having formed square, so valor- 
ously and desperately sustained the re- 
peated charges of the French cuirassiers 
(Nafpoleon's heaviest cavalry) at the 
memorable engagement at Quatre Bras. 
Here two companies of his regiment, 
which, owing to the tall rye in which they 
were posted, were unable to form square 
in time, were utterly annihilated. Some 
of the men stood back to back and fought 
the horsemen until cut down ; but the 
square once formed was never broken. 
Here Mr. McDonald was wounded in the 
head by a musket ball, on which account 
he was discharged with a pension, and his 
family, having no tidings from or of him, 
mourned him as dead; but some six 
months after the great battle the soldier 
boy (but eighteen years of age) to their 
overwhelming surprise appeared, alive and 
well, at the door of his old home. He 
afterward became manager of a cotton 



556 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



factory at Printfield, near Aberdeen, in 
which he continued for about thirty years, 
when he moved into the city and com- 
menced business with his son David. He 
married Margaret Monro, a native of 
Kosshire, Scotland, who bore him eight 
children. In July, 1843, he came to 
America to visit his son Angus, then liv- 
ing in Massillon, Ohio, remaining until 
the following May,when he returned to his 
" native heath," not overfavorably im- 
pressed with the laud of his sou's adop- 
tion, on account of malaria and ague. 
This fine old hero of Quatre Bras died in 
1884 His son Angus, the eldest in the 
family, worked iu the cotton factory at 
Printfield, already referred to, till he was 
fourteen years of age, and then learned 
the trade of molder iu the Grand Holm 
foundry, near Aberdeen, and after a so- 
journ there and in London, Liverpool and 
other places, returned to Aberdeen and 
here married Kate Dinwiddle, of his na- 
tive village, Woodside. In 1840 he came 
alone to America and almost direct to 
Massillon, Ohio, where he immediately 
found employment in a foundry, and iu 
184:2 he sent for his wife and child. In 
1847 he came to Wooster, having been 
driven from Massillon by the malaria so 
prevalent there. Of his eleven children, 
seven yet live, four of his sons assisting 
him in his business. Two children have 
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Curry, 



Maud and Flora. Mrs. Curry is a mem- 
ber of the Woman's Relief Corps of 
Wooster. Mr. Curry is a F. & A. M., a 
member of the Chapter and the Blue 
Lodge; a member of the K. of H., the K. 
O. T. M. and the Iron Hall. Politically 
he is a Republican, and was elected a 
member of the city council from the Sec- 
ond Ward iu April, 1888. 



fjOHN FRAZIER, one of the promi- 
k. I nent farmers of Wayne Township, is 
^^ the fifth of nine children of John 
and Elizabeth (Forkney) Frazier, who 
came to Wayne County from York County, 
Penn., and settled near Clear Creek, where 
they spent the last years of life. He was 
reared and educated iu Wayne County. 
He bought his present homestead of 130 
acres in 1860, and has improved it, erect- 
ing good buildings, and now has one of 
the pleasantest homes in the towuship. 
He takes an active interest iu all public 
affairs, and by his integrity and straight- 
forward dealings has made many friends. 
He was married in 1844 to Maria J. Reed, 
daughter of Andrew and Sarah (Stewart) 
Reed, early settlers of Wayne County. 
They are members of the Presbyterian 
Church. In politics Mr. Frazier is a 
stanch supporter of the principles of the 
Republican party, but is iu no sense a 



[VAYXE COUNT F. 



00 t 



politicinu. Mrs. Fraziei's father, Amlrew 
Reed, was born iu County Down, near 
Belfast, Ireland, and was there married 
to Sarah Stewart. They had a family of 
twelve children, all born in America ex- 
cepting one, their names being: Hugh, 
John, Martha, David, Andrew, William, 
Joseph, Sarah, Isabella, Nancy and Ellen 
(twins) and Maria Jane. They came to 
America about 1800, first settling iu 
Beaver County, Penn., and a few years 
later moved to Wayne County, Ohio, 
where he entered 160 acres of land, which 
he cleared and improved, making it his 
home until his death, which occurred in 
1842 when he aged seventy-three years. 
His wife died in 1831, aged fifty years. 




[ LFKED C. GLESSNER, son of 
Philip and Margaret (Roughcorn) 
Glessner, natives of Westmoreland 
County, Penn., was born September 
24, 1836, in Ashland County, Ohio. His 
parents came in an early day to Wayne 
County, Ohio, and located on a farm in 
Greene Township, afterward moving to 
Ashland County, Ohio. Alfred C. was 
reared on a farm and obtained a limited 
education at the schools of the period. 
In 1S7G he moved into Wayne Countj-, 
and here carried on farming in Milton 
Township. In 1888 he established his 



present business, that of livery stable, at 
Sterling, Wayne County, and has ali-eady 
succeeded in commanding a lucrative 
ti-ade. 

In 1857 Alfred C. Glessner married 
Miss Sarah Jane, a daughter of Thomas 
Baker, of Iowa, and to this union have 
been born eight children: Carrie A., wife 
of William AV. Welday, of Canaan Town- 
ship, Wayne County; William, telegraph 
operator on the Cleveland, Lorain <k 
Wheeling Railroad; Emma Jeanette, 
wife of Milford Lance, of Sterling, Ohio, 
and Hattie I., George A., Everett Thorn- 
ton, Clement D. and Edith, all at home. 
Mr. Glessner has always voted the Dem- 
ocratic ticket, but is not at all demonstra- 
tive in politics. He is a member of 
Sterling Lodge, No. 173, K. of P. Our 
subject was elected supervisor of Milton 
Township, but refused to serve. 




H. HARRY, photographer, Woos- 

1l\f/ ter, ranks among the best artists 
— ' -^ iu his line in the State of Ohio. 
He received his instructions from J. W. 
Baltzly, with whom he worked several 
years. In the fall of 1873 he located in 
Wooster, and opened a studio on the 
Squai-e, and is now located op[)osite the 
Archer House. Here may be fouml sam- 
ples of his work, which includes copying 



558 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



and enlarging poi'traits in oil, India ink 
and water-colors. He is thoroughly con- 
versant with all styles of portrait work, 
his productions comparing favorably with 
those of the best-known artists of New 
York and Philadelphia. His skill is rec- 
ognized by the prominent citizens of 
Wooster, and in the preparation of the 
portraits for this volume he has been 
called upon to produce many of the photo- 
graphs for the use of the engravers and 
other artists. 



DR. WILLIAM F. DERR, the oldest 
I and best-known veterinary surgeon 

in Wayne County, was born in 

Spriugtowu, Bucks Co., Penn., June 3, 
1843. His father, Henry Derr, was also 
a native of Pennsylvania, and of German 
extraction, the ancestry coming to Amer- 
ica from Alsace some time in the " for- 
ties." Henry Derr was a merchant tailor, 
a trade he followed in Reading, Penn. 
He married Maria Fisher, of Bucks 
County, Penn., who bore him eight chil- 
dren. In 1861 Henry Derr passed from 
earth, and since then his widow has made 
her home in Reading, Penn. 

William F. Derr, the subject of these 
lines, was but ten years of age when re- 
quired to rely entirely upon his own un- 
aided efforts for support. His jBrst work 



was on a farm, at §6 per month, and at 
these wages he worked an entire year, 
often being compelled to rise at an early 
hour and work till late at night, in load- 
ing and drawing lime many miles, where- 
with to fertilize the fields. He thus drew 
during the winter some 2,400 bushels. 
During this time, being almost constantly 
among horses and stock, the young farm- 
er found himself much interested in and 
in sympathy with the ailments of animals, 
and delighted in endeavoring to mitigate 
their sufferings. Thus was laid the foun- 
dation of his subsequent life's work. He 
formed the opinion that by study man 
might become as efficient in prescribing 
to the infirmities of the bi'ute creation as 
to his own species, either in medicine or 
surgery. He thereto turned his attention 
in 1874. In 1878 he graduated at the 
Ontario Veterinary College, Toronto, and 
then came to East Union Township, 
Wayne Co., Ohio, where he commenced 
practice, and remained until 1870. in 
which year he moved to Wooster. 

In 1884 fire destroyed his large barn 
and out-buildings, where he was living on 
Beall Avenue, and he then rebuilt at his 
present beautiful home on Nold Avenue, 
where he owns some three and a half acres 
of land. The improvements are entirely 
the Doctor's own handiwork, and thoy 
have been so numerous and so marked in 
the arrangement and decorating of house 




/^^^^^~^A^^ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



561 



and lawn, that his home is indisputably 
one of the most pleasant in the city. 

On August 16, 1866, Dr. Derr was mar- 
ried to Miss Martha, daughter of Isaac 
and Eleanor Daniels, of Wayne County, 
and four children have blessed them, viz. : 
Sadie (deceased), Emma L., William and 
Earl, at home. 

In his practice Dr. Derr is known far 
and wide, and he leads such a busy life 
that short, indeed, is the time he is per- 
mitted to spend in the bosom of his fam- 
ily. Not infrequently is he called to 
Philadel[)hia, Cleveland, Fort Wayne and 
other cities, to render professional serv- 
ices, and in numerous cases, where it has 
been impossible for him to go in person, 
sick horses have been sent long distances 
to him for treatment, sometimes as far as 
from Kentucky. His success has been 
remarkable and is probably owing to the 
fact that the Doctor has a natural liking 
for his chosen work, and because he is an 
untiring reader, keeping well up with the 
times, possessing and using the latest and 
best, both of instruments and books relat- 
ing to his profession; he has already an 
exceptionally fine veterinary library and 
case of surgical implements. He is one 
of the first veterinary graduates in Ohio, 
and to-day has one of the largest practices 
of any country practitioner in the State. 

Not only is Dr. Derr acquainted pro- 
fessionally, but he has won a large circle 



of friends, to whom he is well known as a 
genial companion, a pleasant and liospitable 
4rentleman. In 1S64 the Doctor enlisted 
in Company C, One Hundred and Sixty- 
Ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served 
his country six months, being stationed at 
Fort Ethan Allen, near Washington. In 
1865 he received an honorable discharge 
and returned to Ohio, where his home and 
success has since been made. He is a 
member of the Eoyal Arcanum. I. O. O. F. 
and G. A. R., and is a Knight Templar; 
politically he is a Democrat. 



If AMES RAMSEY was born June 14, 
hj, I 1833, a son of Alexander and Cath- 
^^ erine (Swenger) Ramsey. Michael 
Ramsey, the grandfather of James, was a 
native of Ireland and settled about 1818 
on the farm now owned by the latter. His 
father was born in Ireland in 1807, came 
to AVayne County with his parents, and 
entered an adjoining tract of land in the 
center of East Union Townsliip, where he 
lived until his death in 1872. He exper- 
ienced the hardships of the early pioneer, 
and by his labor ami industry accumu- 
lated a large amount of property. He 
was an ardent Democrat, and sei'ved as 
county commissioner for three years; 
also held various township offices. He 
was elected justice of the peace but did 



562 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



not serve. His wife, who was boru in 
Pennsylvania in 1804, survives him and 
resides with her son, James. Four chil- 
dren were born to them, two of whom died 
in infancy; the others are John, residing 
in Orrville, and James. 

Our subject attended the schools of the 
period, and has always followed farming; 
at the present time he owns 540 acres of 
land, and is engaged in agriculture and 
sheep-breeding. November 2, 1862, he 
married Miss Sarah Jane, daughter of Sam- 
uel K. Landes, of East Union Township, 
"Wayne County, and by her has one child, 
Joseph W., who was born January 24, 1864, 
and lives at home. Mr. Kamsey votes the 
Democratic ticket, and has held the offices 
of trustee and treasurer of his township. 
He was elected township clerk, but his 
business prevented him from serving. 



p=^ MANUEL C. SHISLEK, farmer, 



E 



was born in Lancaster County, 
Penn., in 1828, a son of Benjamin 
and Catherine (Shirk) Shisler. His father 
was a native of Lancaster County, Penn., 
where he lived until 1830, when he re- 
moved to Wayne County, Ohio, and set- 
tled on land owned by his father-in-law, 
John Shirk, a well-to-do farmer, of Dau- 
phin County, Penn. He made this coun- 
ty his home until his death, and became 



one of its prominent citizens. His family 
consisted of two sons, Emanuel C. and Ben- 
jamin. 

E. C. Sliisler from the age of nearly nine 
years has lived in Wayne County. He 
learned the carpenter's trade in his youth, 
at which he worked twenty-two years. 
Since then he has devoted his attention 
to farming, and now owns eighty acres of 
good land, all of which was formerly the 
property of his mother. He was married 
in 1850 to Catherine Hanley, daughter of 
Samuel Hanley. To them have been born 
nine children, but six of whom are living: 
Mary Elizabeth, Samuel H., John Wesley, 
Eliza Jane, Clara Ellen and Ida M. 
Sarah, William and an infant are deceased. 
His wife died and Mr. Shisler afterward 
married Mary Gartner, daughter of Val- 
entine Gartner, of Wayne County. Mr. 
Shisler is a stanch supporter of the prin- 
ciples of the Democratic party, but has no 
aspirations for official preferment. 



AMUEL C. CKAVEN. Among the 
very old settlers of Chester Town- 
ship was Samuel Craven. He was 
a native of Washington County, Penn., 
born November 8, 1800, of Scotch-Irish 
descent. His father, James Craven, was 
twice married; first in 1790 to Hannah 
Leonard, and after her death to Elizabeth 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



563 



Moody. To his second luaninge wei'e 
born twelve children, Samuel being the 
oldest son. In 1S22 Samuel Craven left 
his native State and settled in Wayne 
County, Ohio, locating on a quarter sec- 
tion of land entered from the Government 
by his father, with only SI in his pocket. 
At that time it was entirely covered with 
timber, but he cleared and improved 
it, making it his home until his death, 
which occurred February 8, 1888. He 
was at the time of his death one of the 
oldest residents of the county, and was 
universally loved and esteemed, especially 
by the old settlers. He was always a 
hard-working man, and his industry was 
rewarded by the accumulation of a good 
property. He was married in early life 
to Margaret Boher, of AYasliiugton Coun- 
ty, Penn., who died in 182!*, aged twenty- 
eight years, leaving three children: James, 
Hiram and Lambert. He was again mar- 
ried, his second wife being Sarah Metcalf, 
and ten children, were born to them: 
Vachel, Stewart, Susan Jane, Mary, John, 
Sarah Ann, William, George, Lucinda and 
Samuel C. Of these William and Geoi'ge 
served during the War of the Rebellion. 
Six of this family are living, Samuel C. 
being the only one now a resident of 
Wayne County. The mother died in 
1881, aged seventy-five years. 

Samuel C. Craven was born in Chester 
Township, in 1851. His early education 



was obtained in the common schools of his 
township, and later heattended Smithville 
Academy three terms. He is one of the 
enterprising men of the township, a prac- 
tical farmer and a good business man. 
His farm of 105 acres was his father's 
homestead, and under his maungenient 
has become one of the best farms in tlie 
neighborhood. He was married Feljruary 
12, 1878, to Emma A., daughter of Jacob 
and Barbara (AUamon) Winkler, of Ches- 
ter Township, and they have three chil- 
dren: Charles W., Ida M. and John 
Clyde. Mr. Craven is a Democrat. 



AMUEL ZIMMERMAN (deceased) 
was a native of Pennsylvania, born 
in 1798, a son of Michael Zimmer- 
man. Samuel was left an orphan at the 
age of twelve years, when he went with a 
sister to the State of New York, where he 
lived until manhood. In 1824 he came 
to Ohio, and located in Wayne County, 
entering a tract of heavily timbered land 
in Wayne Township. He built a log 
cabin, in which he lived for a time and 
began the clearing of his land. He was 
energetic and ambitious, and continued 
to make improvements on his land until 
it was one of the best farms in the county. 
Here he made his home until his death, 
which occui'red March 24, 1888, when he 



564 



WAYNE COUNTY 



was aged ninety years. The last years of 
his life were spent in comfort, in the en- 
joyment of that rest so well merited by the 
pioneers who labored to transform a wil- 
derness into a country of thriving villages 
and productive farms. In early life Mr. 
Zimmerman learned the tailor's trade, 
but devoted his attention to farming after 
coming to Ohio. His widow still lives on 
the homestead, and is a lady of bright in- 
tellect, in the eighty-second year of her age. 
Mr. Zimmerman was married in 1826, 
to Sarah Lehman, daughter of Henry 
Lehman. Of the eleven children born to 
them, but five are living: Faunie, Sarah, 
Mary M., David and Jacob. Mrs. Zim- 
merman has long been identified with the 
Lutheran Church, as was also her hus- 
band. In politics he was a Democrat. 



E 



D. HARTMAN is a representative 
of one of the early families of 
Chester Township. In 1830 Sam- 
uel Hartman and his wife left Washing- 
ton County, Penn., and came to Wayne 
Coiinty, Ohio, first locating near tlie pres- 
ent town of West Salem, Congress Town- 
ship. Here Mr. Hartman bought a quarter 
section of laud, all of which was covered 
by a dense growth of timber. This he 
began at once to clear away, and made it 



his home for nineteen years, making of it 
one of the best farms in the county. He 
subsequently moved to Canaan Township, 
locating one-half mile south of the village 
of Burbank, where he bought another 
quarter section, on which he lived until 
1853, when he moved to Chester Town- 
ship, buying what was known as the 
Sherwick property, which also contained 
160 acres. He made this place his home 
until his death, which occurred in 1862, 
when he was aged fifty-five years. He was 
a successful farmer, and left a landed es- 
tate of 500 acres, which is still in the 
possession of his children. 

E. D. Hartman was born in Congress 
Township, October 7, 1839, being one of 
the oldest of the family of ten children. 
He was given good educational advan- 
tages, being for some time a student at 
Mt. Union and Hayesville Academies. 
He has devoted a part of his time to 
teaching school, and also gave his atten- 
tion to the cultivation of his farm ; has 
been successful in his pursiiits, and is 
now one of the prosperous farmers in his 
township. He is a member of the United 
Brethren Church; in politics, casts his 
suffrage with the Prohibition party. He 
was mari-ied in 1865 to Margaret A. Mc- 
Donald, daughter of Ne^vton McDonald, 
and they have a family of six children: 
William W., Charles N., Mary V., Harry 
O., Minnie Maud and Roy McDonald. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



565 



ISAIAH BYALL. This geiitlemau is 
a native of Wayne County, having 
- been born in Sugar Creek Township, 
December 9, 1830. His father, James 
Byall, was born in Baltimore County, Md. 
The ancestors of this family came to 
America at an early day, the great-grand- 
father of our subject being of French ex- 
traction, and the great-grandmother of 
English. Some of the family took part 
in the struggle for independence, and 
some died in English prisons of starva- 
tion. Our subject's grandparents re- 
moved to Stark County, Ohio, where the 
grandmother died, and the grandfather, 
who was a shoemaker by trade, removed 
to Fiudlay, Ohio, and settled upon a tract 
of wild land, where now the public square 
of that flourishing city stands. There he 
died, and there many of his descendants 
yet make their homes. 

James Byall began work for himself 
when yet a boy, and on the breaking out 
of the War of 1812, offered his services 
and was accepted. He fought against 
both the English and the Indians, and at 
the time of Hull's surrender was with the 
army under Gen. Cass, near Sandusky. 
He served throughout the war, after which 
he returned to Stark County. He received 
from the Government, in acknowledgment 
of his services, a warrant of IGO acres of 
land. Soon after this Mr. Byall came to 
Wayne County and entered land near 



where Dalton now stands, at a place sub- 
sequently called Jericho. It was but a 
wild tract of laud, but he erected upon it 
a log cabin, and as he was then an un- 
married man he lived for some time with 
no companions but his dogs and guns. He 
endured this life but a year, when he be- 
came united in marriage with Miss Mary 
Pruner, daughter of Daniel and Lovicy 
Pruuer, and a native of Washington Coun- 
ty, Penu., where her father died. When 
about fifteen years of age she came to 
Wayne County with hersister and mother, 
and here in the woods she and her future 
partner met, wooed and wed. Together 
this worthy couple endured the trials and 
hardships of a pioneer life. Children 
soon came to gladden the cabin, and they 
had a family of eleven, of whom eight 
are yet living, our subject and a sister, 
Mrs. Margaret Hackett, of East Union 
Township, being the only ones in Wayne 
County. July 8, 1855, death called at 
the home of the pioneer, aud he passed 
away at the age of sixty-seven, having 
been born September 1, 1788. He had 
always been an extraordinarily industrious 
man, and the hard labor he performed in 
making his home in the wilderness un- 
doubtedly shortened his days. Mr. Byall 
was a great friend of Poe, the renowned 
Indian fighter, aud once, when the latter 
was sick with fever, carried him across 
the stream on his back. He was a man 



566 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



well liked and respected, and at one time 
held the office of township trustee. For 
fifteen years after her husband's decease 
Mrs. Byall remained on the old home- 
stead, and then removed to the home of 
our subject, where she died January 4, 
1887, aged eighty-seven years and sixteen 
days. 

Isaiah Byall, the subject proper of this 
sketch, attended the old log school house 
of the day where he acquired an educa- 
tion sufficient to be able to teach school, 
which he engaged in for several years 
during the winter, but his father being an 
invalid for ten years before his death, the 
care of the farm devolved upon him, and 
at the age of eighteen he took full charge 
of it. On his father's death he was made 
administrator of his estate. After this 
he removed to Fort Wayne, Ind., where 
he purchased and improved a place. The 
year following he returned to Wayne 
County, and was united in marriage with 
Miss Minerva J. Boydston, daughter of 
Thomas and Elizabeth (Steel) Boydston, 
pioneers of East Union Township, where 
Mrs. Byall was boi'u. Her father was a 
Virginian, and made the journey to 
Wayne County on foot, carrying on his 
arm, all the way, an old tea-kettle. He 
built a cabin, and, like James Byall, for a 
time lived alone, being subsequently mar- 
ried to Elizabeth Steel, who was his third 
M'ife. They lived the usual life of a 



pioneer, and cleared and improved the 
farm by assiduous labor. The father 
died in Orrville, aged seventy-seven years, 
and the mother still lives there, aged sev- 
enty-nine. Five of their children are now 
living, all in Wayne County. 

After his marriage our subject and his 
wife returned to his farm iu Indiana, 
where they stayed for two and a half years. 
He exchanged this farm for one in Wayne 
County, to which he removed in 1861. 
There lie farmed until 1888, when he re- 
tired and moved to his pleasant home on 
Beall Avenue, iu Wooster, where he now 
lives. Six children graced the marriage 
of Mr. and Mrs. Byall, named Elizabeth 
Belle, Vernon B., Solon A., Charles D. 
and Martin Welker and Henry Wallace, 
twins. Our subject is in politics a Demo- 
crat, and during the Civil War was known 
as a Douglas man. He was strongly in 
favor of Union, and contributed liberally 
for the prosecution of the war. For two 
terms he was justice of the peace in East 
Uuiou Township, and served two terms as 
county commissioner. In the fall of 1887 
he was elected secretary of the Wayne 
County Pioneer Association, in which he 
takes much interest. He started poor in 
life, but by strict attention to his business, 
and the exercise of good judgment he 
has achieved success. He is a man of 
whom all speak well, and be has contrib- 
uted much toward the upbuilding of the 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



567 



couuty, whose welfare has always beeii 
dear to his heart. In early life he became 
a member of the Masonic fraternity. His 
estimable wife is a member of the English 
Lutheran Church. 



rpHOMAS C. POLLOCK, a well- 
I known merchant of Wooster, Wayne 
JJ Co., Ohio, was born in Cincinnati, 
'^ Ohio, April 2, 1859. His father, 
Eobert H. Pollock, was a native of West- 
moreland County, Penn., and his grand- 
father, John Pollock, was also a native- 
born American, of Scotch-Irish extraction, 
and was by occupation a farmer. 

Robert H. Pollock received a good edu- 
cation at Athens, Ohio, and afterward at- 
tended the Miami University, at Oxford, 
Ohio, where he was prepared for the 
ministry and was ordained in what is now 
known as the United Presbyterian Church. 
He married Miss Jane H. Scroggs, a 
native of Pennsylvania, whose ancestors 
came from the north of Scotland. From 
Pennsylvania the Pollock family removed 
to Indiana, and later to Cincinnati, Ohio. 
In 1864 Rev. R. H. Pollock and family 
came to Wooster, where for eleven years 
he filled the pulpit of the United Presby- 
terian Church, which, when he took 
charge of it had a membership of but 120 
souls. During his pastorate his zealous 



labors increased the membership to 275, 
and a new church edifice was erected. In 
the early spring of 1877 Mr. Pollock went 
to Mount Vernon, Ohio, to take charge of 
a struggling mission station, to aid in 
building it up, l)ut the devoted pastor did 
not live to complete his self-assumed task, 
being called, in the following July, at the 
age of fifty-eight years, to the reward 
which awaits the faithful worker in his 
Master's vineyard. He was a devoted 
pastor whose whole time and strength was 
given to the cause of Christ, and he ac- 
complished much good during his years 
of labor, and died regretted by a large 
circle of friends, who loved and revered 
him as an upright man and exemplary 
Christian. His widow is now living with 
her son in Wooster, the latter being, with 
one sister, Mary H., also of Wooster, the 
only survivor of their twelve children. 

Thomas C. Pollock received his early 
education in the common schools of Woos- 
ter, and later attended its university. 
When eighteen years of age, on his 
father's removal to Mount Vernon he be- 
gan clerking in a shoe store at that place, 
and with other firms. For a year he was 
unable to do any work, but on recovering 
his health came back to Wooster, where 
he clerked for McClonnan <fe Casler, and 
following that was for two years employed 
in Coon's grocery. In 1882 he formed a 
partnership with Jacob Schmuck in the 



568 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



grocery trade, the latter withdrawing in 
the spring of 1885, and our subject formed 
a connection with John Deer, which con- 
tinued until December, 188G, when the 
latter sold to Mr. Pollock, since which 
time he has continued alone, doing a fine 
business, and prospering, as he is known 
as an upright and enterjarising merchant, 
who can always be depended upon. Our 
subject joined the United Presbyterian 
Church when a boy of fifteen, and has 
ever since remained an active and valued 
member of that body. For two years he 
filled the position of treasurer of the 
church in Wooster, and in the spring of 
1887 was elected an elder. His success 
in life is due entirely to his own efforts 
and business ability, as he started in life 
with a capital principally of a well-de- 
served reputation for probity and trust- 
worthiness, with but little money. He 
has by his upright and manly life made 
gratifying progress, and is to-day recog- 
nized as one of Wooster's most reliable 
and rising young business men. 



ly JI/ICHAEL CULLER was born in 

\y/\ Westmoreland County, Penn., 

Jj -^ February 20, 1831. His father, 

George Culler, who was a native 

of Pennsylvania and a farmer, upon reach- 

ine manhood was married to Miss Eliza- 



beth, daughter of Abram Myers, and a 
native of Pennsylvania. In 1835 he and 
his wife removed to Holmes County, Ohio, 
where they settled on a farm, and here 
shared life's joys and sorrows until 1866, 
when Mi's. Culler died, at the age of sixty- 
five years. She was the mother of ten 
children, eight of whom are now living, 
Michael being the only one in Wayne 
County. Since the death of his wife Mr. 
Culler has remained in Holmes County. 
He has always been a stanch Democrat, 
and although a man of eighty-six yeai"s 
he still walks to the polls, some two miles, 
to vote. 

Michael Culler was about four years of 
age, when, with his parents, he removed 
to Holmes County, where he remained at 
home until he was thirteen, at which time 
he began to learn the carpenter trade, 
which, in connection with farming, he 
has since followed. In 1855 he was mar- 
ried to Barbara J. Harold, a native of 
Holmes County, and daughter of Christo- 
pher and Barbara (Harold) Harold, who 
settled in that county in 1822. They 
were farmers who began in the woods and 
cleared a place to make a farm and a home 
for themselves and their family. By busi- 
ness tact and good judgment Mr. Harold 
achieved a marked success in life and ac- 
quired not only an extensive farm, but 
became prominent for the skill and enter- 
prise he evinced in carrying on his busi- 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



5m 



ness. Mrs. Harold dieil October 8, 1874. 
Mr. Harold was boru October 10, 1795, 
came to Mount Eaton iu 1822, and died 
December 27, 1882. This couple were 
the parents of fifteen children, nine of 
whom are now living, and five of whom 
died iu infancy. Those li^^ng are all 
within twenty miles of the homestead. 
Mr. Harold was for many years an elder 
in the Presbyterian Church at Mount 
Eaton. After his marriage Mr. Culler 
remained at the old place about five years, 
and then removed to Fredericksburgh in 
1S03. Here he resided until the spring 
of 1880, when he removed to his present 
home, where most of the improvements 
iiave been the result of his own exertions. 
Five children have come to bless the home, 
as follows: Eugene Calvin, on the farm; 
Joseph Albertus; William A., living in 
Wayne Township; James lienfield and 
Flora L. at home. 

Politically Mr. Culler owes allegiance to 
no party, preferring to judge for himself 
and vote according to the dictates of his 
own conscience and judgment. Desiring 
to see his country freed from the bondage 
of strong drink, he and all his sons firmly 
favor the prohibition movement. Both 
Ml'. Culler and his estimable wife are 
members of the Presbyterian Church of 
Wooster. The entire family are well 
known and highly esteemed throughout 
Wayne County, where they have hosts of 



friends. Mr. Culler's brother, Andrew, 
enlisted in the war for the Union, and 
died of disease in New Orleans, while in 
the service. 



J NELSON FERRELL, attorney, re- 
siding iu Orrville, AVayne County, 
Ohio, is a native of the State, born 
in Harrison County, December 8, 1834. 
His paternal grandparents came from Ire 
land before the War of 1812, and settled 
near Cadiz, Ohio. The grandfather, 
James Ferrell, was a well-known phy- 
sician. He and his wife both died there. 
The maternal grandparents, Isaac nnd 
Jane Lemasters, were of Maryland stock, 
and also immigrated to Ohio prior to 1812, 
settling in Rumley Township, Harrison 
County. This family were involved in 
many Indian troubles, and the father of 
Isaac, who was named Ebenezer, was 
killed by them. Isaac Lemasters was a 
farmer, and was in the War of 1812, was 
engaged in several battles, but was never 
wounded. He also had many fights with 
the Indians, and was often compelled to 
seek refuge in the fort near by. He and 
his wife Jane lived to a ripe old age, and 
died on the farm where they bad settled. 
The father of subject, Thomas Ferrell, 
was born in Harrison County, and in his 
youth taught school, afterward becoming 



570 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



a minister of the Eeformed Church, labor- 
ing in that cause \intil his death. He was 
a man of energetic habits, and of a re- 
markably kind disposition, a faithful hus- 
band and loving father, who ruled his 
children by love, not by fear. He was of 
strict temperance principles, which was 
somewhat remarkable at the day when the 
use of liquor was almost universal. Noted 
for his zeal and piety, he went to his re- 
ward in the life to come in the sure hope 
of immortality. His wife, Jane, daugh- 
ter of Isaac and Jane Lemasters, was born 
in Harrison County, Ohio, and like her 
husband was a sincere Christian. In her 
younger days she took an active part in 
the affairs of the church. Later her time 
was largely devoted to her family, faith- 
fully seconding her husband's efforts to 
make of them good members of society. 
She also was opposed to corporal punish- 
ment, believing rather in moral suasion, 
and the effect of a good example. 

This worthy couple had five children, 
as follows: J. Nelson, subject of this 
sketch; Susan Jane (deceased), who was 
the wife of William Love, of Noble County, 
Ohio; James W., a farmer in Archer 
Township, Harrison Co., Ohio; Eliza- 
beth A. and Nancy M., unmarried, and 
living in Carroll County, Ohio. 

The subject of this sketch, J. Nelson Fer- 
rell, worked on the farm in summer, attend- 
ing school in winter until he was fifteen 



years old, when for one term he attended 
a select school at Jefferson, Ohio. Next 
year he taught school, and, with the money 
thus earned, paid for his tuition at Otter- 
bein University, Franklin County, Ohio 
This he repeated for four years, acquiring 
a good education by his own unaided 
efforts. At this time he married and for the 
two following years taught school in win- 
ters, working on the farm in summers. 
When about twenty-five years old he 
began the study of law, paying his way by 
teaching. The year prior to his admis- 
sion he entered the law office of R. E. 
Knight, then of Carrollton, now of Cleve- 
land, and was admitted to the bar in 
1862. He then went to New Philadelphia, 
Ohio, where he practiced for ten years, 
during which time he was mayor of the 
city. His health failing he gave up prac- 
ticing, under medical advice, and removed 
to the hills of Carroll County to regain it. 
A residence of several years there re-es- 
tablished it, and he resumed practice in 
Carroll County. In April, 1884-, he re- 
moved to Orrville, where he has since 
lived. In 1856 Mr. Ferrell was married 
to Nancy, daughter of John and Mary 
(Webster) McBeth, who was born near 
New Franklin, Harrison County. Her 
grandfather McBeth came to this country 
from Ireland, the family settling first in 
Pennsylvania, where the grandfather died. 
Her father immigrated to Ohit), wliere he 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



571 



married, ami he and his wife both died on 
the farm he first bought. Mr. and Mrs. 
Ferrell have two children: Mame J., wife 
of Edward P. Williamson, of Holliday's 
Cove, Va., and Lilly M., still under the 
parental roof. Mr. Ferrell is a member 
of the Odd Fellows order. He is a 
truly self-made man, who by courage and 
perseverance acqiiired a good education 
and a profession, and a standing in the 
community which honors the man, and re- 
spects him for his character and integrity. 



JAMES F. COE, a rising and pros- 
perous young farmer of Wayne 
- ' County, was born in Richland 
County, Ohio, July 28, 1852. His 
father, Danvers Coe, who was a native of 
Ohio, and by occupation a farmer, on 
reaching manhood married Eliza,daughter 
of Robert Hanna, who was born in Penn- 
sylvania, and emigrated to Holmes 
County at an early day, being one of the 
pioneers. Mr. Hanna married Jane 
Cabeen, who bore him seven children, all 
of whom are dead. He died in Mansfield, 
Ohio, in 1880, at the age of eighty-seven 
years. His aged widow, grandmother of 
James F. Coe, is still living in Mansfield. 
Danvers Coe and his wife, in 1868, re- 
moved from Norwalk, and made their 
home on a farm in Wayne County, where 



they remained until their death. Mr. 
Coe died at the age of forty-eight 
years; his widow lived until 1880, when 
she, too, joined the silent majority. She 
was the mother of eleven children, eight 
of whom are still living, James F. being 
the only one in Wayne County. The 
senior Mr. Coe made farming his princi- 
pal business. His life was a busy one, he 
having to make his own way in the world, 
in which he was very successful. Both he 
and his wife were members of the Presby- 
terian Church in Wooster. 

James F. Coe was some seventeen j-ears 
of age when he came with his parents to 
Wayne County. After the death of his 
father Mr. Coe was married to Miss Olive, 
daughter of James and Amanda (Foster) 
Sanderson, and a native of Hayesville. 
Her parents were early settlers of Ohio, 
her father having come to the State when 
he was about eighteen years old. Mr- 
and Mrs. Sanderson shared life's sorrows 
and joys together until 18G2, when the 
latter died, the mother of six children, of 
whom one is dead; two of them are in 
Wayne County, Mrs. Coe and Mrs. Au- 
gusta Price. After their marriage Mr. 
and Mrs. Coe made their home on the 
farm on which they have since resided. 
Three children have been born to them : 
Maud, Mabel and Arthur, all of whom are 
at home. In politics Mr. Coe is a Repub- 
lican. He is a man of progressive ideas, 



572 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



as may be seen iu his well cultivated 
farm, whicli betokens thrift, energy and 
the employment of the best and most im- 
proved methods. Mr. Coe is well liked 
and highly esteemed among a large circle 
of acquaintances, who thoroughly appre- 
ciate his many manly qualities. 



JACOB H. KESLAE was born in 
j Fayette County, Peun., May 1, 1818. 
—^ His father, William Keslar, was a 
native of Pennsylvania, and was by trade 
a millwright and farmer. He married 
Miss Nancy Henr}', a native of the same 
State, and a daughter of Stephen Henry. 
They made their home in Pennsylvania 
until their death, the mother dying first, 
aged nearly seventy years, and the father in 
1864, aged about seventy-two years. He 
was a Democrat in his political faith, and 
both were members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. They had a family of nine 
children, six of whom are living, and two, 
John and Jacob, are residents of Wayne 
County, Ohio. The paternal grandpar- 
ents of our subject were of German ances- 
try, and both died before he was born. 
His maternal grandfather, Stephen Henry, 
was of English descent. He was one of 
the earliest pioneers of Wayne County, 
Ohio, entering a tract of timber land, 
which he cleared and improved, living in 



his wagon when he first came to the county 
until he could build a cabin. He spent 
the last years of his life in Wayne County, 
where he was an honored citizen. 

Jacob H. Keslar remained at home until 
he was twenty-two years of age, when he 
decided to seek a home farther west, and 
accordingly came to Wayne County, where 
for a time he lived in the family of his 
grandfather. He learned the carpenter 
trade in his native State, and worked at 
same for several years in this county. 
In 1851 he bought the farm where he 
now lives, which was only partially im- 
proved. On it was a small cabin and a 
bank frame barn, and only a few acres 
had been cleared. By untiring energy 
and industry he has made it one of the 
best farms in Wooster Township. He is 
purely a self-made man, and can view 
with pride the results of his own hard la- 
bor. He has always taken an interest in 
public affairs, and has assisted materially 
in the development of the resources of the 
county. He is now on the downhill of 
life, but his early years of toil have se- 
cured him a comfortable home, where he 
is provided with all the necessaries of 
life. Mr. Keslar was married in 1852 to 
to Miss Hannah, daughter of Henry Mow- 
ery. She died leaving one son, Henry, 
who was killed in his boyhood by a horse. 
In 1854 Mr. Keslar married Julia Ann 
Bricker, and to them were born two chil- 



dren, Joseph and Mary, both of whom 
are at home. Politically, like his father, 
Mr. Keslar is a Democrat; is a member of 
the English Lutheran Church, his wife be- 
ing a Winebrennerian in religious belief. 



F-KANCIS LITTLE, a well-known 
farmer of Wooster Township, was 
-" born in Wayne County, September 
1, 1820. His father, John Little, was a 
native of Westmoreland County, Penn., 
where he followed the occupation of a 
farmer, and in 1814 was married to Miss 
Jane, daughter of Henry Caldwell. In 
1814 he came to Salt Creek Township, 
where he obtained a quarter section of 
land, and then returned to Westmoreland 
County. The following spring he removed 
with his wife to Wayne County, where he 
spent the remainder of his life. His farm, 
when he settled upon it, was an unbroken 
forest and infested with wild beasts. In 
1865 Mrs. Little died, aged seventy-five 
years. She was the mother of eight chil- 
dren, five sons and three daughters, one 
daughter dying in infancy; John, residing 
in Salt Creek Township, and Francis, the 
subject of this sketch, are the only ones 
living. One son, Henry Little, died in 
Salt Creek Township some years ago. The 
father, John Little, died in 187(t, aged 
about seventy-five years. 



Francis Little remained at home until 
he was some twenty-one years of age, 
when he was married to Miss Elizabeth 
Taylor, who bore him three children and 
died. He then married Miss Augeline, a 
daughter of Saul and Margaret Miller, of 
Fredericksburgh, she being a native of 
Pennsylvania. For some twenty-seven 
years Mr. Little lived in Holmes County, 
during which time he followed farming 
i and stock buying. In 1872 he removed 
to his present home in Wooster Town- 
ship, and here, on the 24:thof April, 188G, 
his faithful wife and companion was taken 
from him by death, at the age of seventy 
years and five months. She was the 
mother of ten chikken, four of whom died 
in infancy. The names of the others are 
John Taylor, living in Fredericksburgh ; 
Ezra B., near Seneca Falls, N. Y. ; Heze- 
kiah; Samuel, at home; Margaret (de- 
ceased), who married James H. Bruce; 
Mary (deceased), who married Mr. Dit- 
man, and lived near Fort Wayne, Ind. 

Mr. Little still remains on the home 
place, where his farm is cared for I)y his 
son Samuel, who married Miss Martha 
Armstrong, daughter of John Armstrong, 
of near Apple Creek. They have two 
children. Politically Francis Little is n 
strong Democrat. He has filled several 
positions of trust in the various commun- 
ities where he has lived. He was justice 
of the peace in Holmes County for nearly 



574 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



fifteen years, and was also township clerk. 
In Wayne County he is now serving his 
second term as infirmary director. He 
has been a consistent member of the 
United Presbyterian Church since he was 
twenty years of age, and of late years, as 
are all his family about him, has belonged 
to the church at "Wooster. Mr. Little has 
won a marked success by his own good 
judgment, perseverance and industry. By 
the uprightness of his conduct he has won 
and keeps the respect of all who know 
him. He has spent a good deal of time 
in raising and dealing in stock, and owns 
180 acres of choice farming land in East 
Union and Wooster Townships. Mr. Lit- 
tle was greatly opposed to slavery, and did 
much toward advancing the Union cause 
during the war, assisting largely finan- 
cially and by personal effort, in filling the 
country's quota of volunteers. 



T^JIt ATTHEW McCLUEE, another of 
I jTI Wayne County's oldest and most 
Jl -^ respected citizens, is a native of 
Dauphin County, Penn., born in 
Middletown in 1817. His parents were 
also natives of Pennsylvania, and his 
father, also named Matthew, was a school- 
mate of Don Cameron. His mother was 
Miss Maria, daughter of Charles Brandol. 
Thej' were the parents of twelve children, 



five sons and seven daughters, all now 
deceased except our subject. The father 
departed this life in 1852, aged sixty-six, 
and the mother fifteen years later, both 
dying in the city of Wooster. When 
about seven years of age young Matthew 
came with his parents to Wayne County, 
Ohio, where he has since resided, with the 
exception of three years spent in Union 
County, Ohio, and one year in California. 
His beginning of life was humble, his 
home being an old log cabin, through the 
chinks of which the snow drifted manj' 
a winter's night, covering him as he 
slept, and his school experience was very 
meager, even for those primitive days. 
Farming has been his occupation all his 
life, and in his earlier experiences many 
a bushel of wheat did he draw to Mas- 
sillon, twenty-five miles distant, where he 
sold it for 45 cents per bushel, three - 
year old cattle fetching §8.00 per head. 
November 10, 1842, Mr. McClure mar- 
ried Elizabeth, daughter of Ealph and 
Nancy (Caufman) Funk, and born in Bucks 
County, Penn., of which State h^r par- 
ents were also natives, whence they came 
to Wayne County, Ohio, in 1836. Twelve 
children were born to this union, five of 
whom are yet living, as follows: James, 
in Kansas; Louise, now Mrs. Horace A. 
Maize, residing south of Wooster, Wayne 
County; Cyrus, in Kansas; Matthew B. 
and Frank U., in business in Wooster. 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



575 



lu 18G9 the family came to their present 
residence in Wooster, where Mr. McClure 
is engaged in raising small fruits. Mrs. 
McClure is a member of the First Pres- 
byterian ChurcJi of Wooster. Politically 
Mr. McClure is a Eepublicau, his fiist vote 
being cast for Gen. W. H. Harrison. In 
1850 oursubject made an overland journey, 
by way of the plains, to California, remain- 
ing there, however, only about one year. 
He and his amiable life partner have 
played no unimportant part in the history 
of Wayne County, where they enjoy the 
respect and esteem of all classes of the 
community. 




H J. ilLLIAM N. SMITH is a native 
f/ of Wayne County, Ohio, born in 
^ Franklin Township, April 9, 
1830. His grandfather, Philip Smith, 
was of German ancestry, and came to 
Wayne County, Ohio, in 1812. He lo- 
cated on a tract of timber land, and, after 
clearing seven acres, built a cabin, and 
went toSteubenvilleforhis family, return- 
ing to this county the same spring. He 
improved his laud, and made it his home 
until his death, which occurred in 1840, 
wiien he was seventy years old. His 
widow survived him until 1851, dying at 
tiie advanced age of eighty-four years. 
They had a family of ten children, all of 



whom are deceased. Nathan W. Smith, 
their youngest child, was born August 3, 
1S04-, and was therefore but eight years 
old when his parents moved to Wayne 
County. His early life was spent amid 
the hardships and privations of a pioneer 
life, and he received but limited educa- 
tional advantages. He was married No- 
vember 15, 1825, by Rev. John Reid, to 
Miss Maria Waits, who was born Novem- 
ber 1-4, 1803, a daughter of Richard 
and Leah Waits. They first located in 
Franklin Township, where they lived 
twenty-seven years, and then moved to a 
farm one mile south of Wooster, where 
the mother died October 1, 1809, aged 
sixty-six years. The father died April 
29, 1885, aged nearly eighty-one years. 
They had a family of four children: Hi- 
ram N., born April 22, 1827, was a grad- 
uate of Jefferson College, and was pre- 
paring for the ministry, but died in the 
second year of his course, April 23, 1S51; 
William N., born April 9, 1830; Matilda, 
born September 17, 1834, died, aged five 
months and twenty-seven days; Ellen, 
born September 2, 1830, died March 14, 
1844. Nathan W. Smith was in his early 
life a Whig, and later a Republican. He 
was a man of strong temperance princi- 
ples, and was the third person in Wayne 
County to sign the total abstinence pledge. 
He and his wife were members of the 
Presbyterian Church. 



576 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



William N. Smith, the only surviving 
member of his father's family, remained 
with his parents until his marriage, and 
then was given an interest in the home- 
stead, and at his father's death succeeded 
to the ownership. He was married in 
1854, to Miss Andaline Johnson, daughter 
of Isaac and Kachel (Earnest) Johnson. 
They have had a family of eight children: 
Hiram W., Isaac Johnson, Alma E., Frank 
E., Ida M., Nathan W., Edwin E. and 
Elva J. Hiram W. died in the twenty- 
fourth year of his age, leaving a widow 
and one child. Isaac J. lives in Wayne 
Township, Frank E. is in Muscogee, In- 
dian Territory, and the rest are at home. 
Mr. Smith has been a prosperous busi- 
ness man, and for five years was cashier 
of the Farmer's Bank at Wooster. His 
home is located about two miles from the 
court-house, on the Mt. Eaton road. Mr. 
Smith is a strong Kepublican; he and 
his wife are members of the Presbyterian 
Church. 




RS. PLEASANT ANN (JOHN- 
SON) TROUTMAN, widow of 
Philip Troutman, was born in 
Dauphin County, Peun., November 
25, 1829, a daughter of Isaac Johnson. 
When she was five years old, her parents 
removed to Wayne County, Ohio, and here 



she was reared to womanhood. January 
3, 1854, she was married to Philip Trout- 
man, a native of Virginia, son of Michael 
and Mary Troutman, who were of German 
descent. Philip came with his parents to 
Wayne County, and here began his life's 
occupation, farming. After their mar- 
riage, the young couple settled down to 
housekeeping in Clinton Townshij), sub- 
sequently moving to Wooster Township, 
where together they built up a good 
home, sharing life's joys and sorrows to- 
gether until February 15, 1880, when 
death entered their home and sundered 
the tie that bound them, claiming for its 
own the husband and father, who at his 
death, was fifty-six years, one month and 
fifteen days old. He was a Democrat in 
politics, and while in Clinton Township 
served several terms as assessor. He was 
a progressive farmer, and did much to- 
ward the building up of his county. He 
was one of AVayne County's self-made 
men, having to make his own start in life, 
and his success was due to his persever- 
ance and thrift, aided always by his faith- 
ful wife. 

Since her husband's death, Mrs. Trout- 
man has remained on the homestead.where 
with her children, she is living in the en- 
joyment of the property she has so nobly 
earned. She has had a family of eight 
children, seven of whom are living; Addie, 
Jessie, Otto, Mary, John, Morse and Park ; 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



01 I 



Clyde is deceased. Addie was married 
Jauiiary 1, 1880, to Dauiel Shirk, and Las 
three children; Frank T., Jay P. and 
Earl W. Jessie was married August 10, 
1882, to E. R. Eedick, who died Septem- 
ber, 188-4, leaving one child, and Mrs. 
Kedick now lives with her mother. Otto 
was for some time a teacher in Wooster 
Township, and now lives in Kansas. 
Morse has been a teacher in the township 
several terms. The homestead, which is 
located in South Wooster Township, con- 
tains 19G acres, all well improved, and is 
one of the pleasautest homes in the town- 
ship. Mrs. Troutman is an active and 
devoted member of the Presbyterian 
Church at Shreve, and the family is among 
the prominent and influential representa- 
tives of Wayne County. 



JOHN McQUIGG, one of the well- 
; known citizens of Wooster Town- 
^^ ship, was born in Ireland, and in his 
infancy his parents, John and (Mc- 
Afee) McQuigg, came to America. They 
settled in Wayne County, Ohio, and here 
the father died February 1, 1885, aged 
nearly eighty years. The mother, who 
was a daughter of William W. and 
Martha (Ray) McAfee, still lives on the 
homestead, two daughters, Martha and 
Mary Ann, living with her. Of her ten chil- 



32 



dreu, nine are living, the most of them in 
AVayue County. She is a member of the 
United Presbyterian Church. A brother, 
Robert McAfee, makes his home with 
her. Her parents came to America from 
County Derry, Ireland, in 1838, and set- 
tled in Wayne County, Ohio, where the 
father died in 1858, and the mother in 
1862. Mrs. McQuigg is now in her 
eighty-fourth year, is still hale and hearty, 
and well preserved for one of her years. 

John McQuigg, the subject of our 
sketch, remained with his parents until 
manhood, assisting in the care of the 
home farm. August 16, 1862, he enlist- 
ed in Company A, One Hundi-ed and 
Twentieth Ohio Infantry, and served until 
the close of the war, being discharged in 
July, 1865. He participated in five hard- 
fought battles, besides numerous skirm- 
ishes. He was at the first attack on Yicks- 
burg, Chickasaw Bluffs, Arkansas Post, 
passed the following winter at Young's 
Point, and then again marched to Vicks- 
burg, when the second assault was made; 
later was at the bombardment of Grand 
Bluff, Miss., at the mouth of the Black 
River, in the battle of Thompson's Hill, and 
at Champion Hills. In May, 1863, at Red 
River, be was captui-ed, and for thirteen 
months, lacking six days, was a prisoner 
at Tyler, Tex. While there, with his 
brother-in-law, Mahloii Roch, he under- 
took the manufacture of pipes and combs 



578 



WAVXE COUNTY. 



from the horns of cattle killed for their 
sustenance. They obtained a good reve- 
nue from the sale of these articles to the 
guards and fellow prisoners, and in addi- 
tion to its enabling them to purchase pro- 
visions from the outsiders, it helped to 
pass away many dreary hours of exile 
from home and friends. After his dis- 
charge he returned to the old home in 
Wooster Township, where he remained 
until after his marriage, and in the spring 
of 1874 settled on the farm where he now 
lives. He was married June 10, 1873, to 
Alice Armstrong, who died May 26, 1876, 
leaving a babe that died a few days later. 
February 20, 1879, he married Helen Cul- 
bertsou, daughter of Hugh and Margaret 
Culbertson. They have five children, 
viz. : Hugh, Sadie Florence, James Mah- 
lon, John and an infant. Mr. and Mrs. 
McQuigg are members of the United 
Presbyterian Church ; in politics he is a 
stanch supporter of the principles of the 
Republican party. 



F 



ENELON FREDERICK HIPPEE 
w^ POPE, M. D., son of Rev. Benja- 
-^ min Pope, a minister of the Luther- 
an Church, is the eldest of a family of 
three — two sous and one daughter — all 
living. His brother, G. Warren L. Pope, 
two years his junior, is a railroad passen- 



ger conductor, who bears a reputation for 
efficiency and thoroughness in the dis- 
charge of his duties, making him indis- 
pensable to the company officials; while 
his drolleries, wit and sympathy with his 
fellow employes, make him an idol among 
them. His sister. Miss Anna M. Pope, 
resides with her mother at Wooster, Ohio; 
she is the youngest of the family and is 
possessed of remarkable musical talent, 
which has been fairly developed. She is 
a teacher of piano music, and possesses an 
enviable reputation both as a teacher and 
as a performer on the organ, being the 
organist of one of the churches in Wooster. 
In the sketch of his ancestors which 
follows it will be seen that the Doctor 
comes of old colonial stock on both sides, 
running back into German families, ex- 
cept an infusion of Scotch or Scotch-Irish, 
in a distant line. A remarkable line of 
coincidences exists in his and his ancestral 
line. He is the eldest child of his father's 
family; his wife the eldest of her father's 
family; his father was the youngest and 
his mother the eldest of their respective 
fathers' families; his grandfather the 
youngest, and his great-grandfather the 
eldest of their respective fathers' children. 
Dr. Pope was born in Delaware, the 
county seat of Delaware County, Ohio, 
October 29, 184-4, his early education be- 
ing condixcted in the then famous Second 
Ward public schools of Wooster, Ohio, 



WAYXE COUNT V. 



579 



while Wilmot, Gens. Wiles and "Wylie 
were principals; Inter he studied under 
the supervision of his father and mother 
in the home institution. He read medi- 
cine under the instruction of the late Dr. 
L. Firestone, and graduated February 2-t, 
1S70, from the Charity Hospital Medical 
College of Cleveland, Ohio (now merged 
into the Medical Department of the 
Western Reserve University), and Uni- 
versity of Wooster both located at Cleve- 
land. In the spring of 1860 he was ap- 
prenticed to his uncle, George M. Hippee, 
of Des Moines, Iowa, in the drug trade, 
in which he served three years, excepting 
a term of service in the Union army. On 
the breaking out of the War of the Re- 
bellion, in 18G1, he offered his services, 
but on account of his age was later 
rejected. In 1803 he obtained a recruit- 
ing commission for the Fourth Iowa 
Battery of Artillery, which Capt. Mitchel 
was then recruiting. After enlisting a 
number of men he was notified that be- 
cause of his age, no commission could 
be issued to him in the United States 
military service. In 186-i he again en- 
tered the United States military service as 
first sergeant. Company C, One Hundred 
and Sixty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
and served at Fort Ethan Allen, at the 
time of Early's raid on AVashington, and 
the engagement at Fort Stevens and Ten- 
leytown. He is a member in good stand- 



ing of Wayne Post No. 297 G. A. R., at 

Orrville, Ohio. He has been practicing 
medicine at Dalton, Ohio, where he re- 
sides, for twenty-two years, enjoying a 
large and lucrative practice. 

July 6, 1870, the Doctor was united in 
marriage, at Wooster, Ohio, with Laura 
Elenora, eldest daughter of Israel and 
Mary Jane (Uginfritz) Clippiuger, also 
of German descent, but with a distant 
line of English. Two daughters were 
born to this union: Alice Gertrude, born 
November 23, 1871, a graduate of the 
village high school, and Edna May, born 
May 3, 1879. In 1^(59 Dr. Pope was 
elected mayor of Dalton, but shortly after 
taking the oath of office he resigned. He 
has since been repeatedly elected to coun- 
cil, and has always been a most efficient 
member upon whom the burden of busi- 
ness devolved. As an evidence of his 
labors we may mention that more than 
two-thirds of the ordinances on the books 
were framed by him. He is now serving 
his third term as mayor, and is conceded 
by all to be the most efficient incumbent 
ever elected to the office. He is now 
serving his fifth year as member of the 
board of education, and to him, more 
than to any one else, are the schools in- 
debted for their magnificent system and 
courses of study. In politics he was 
formerly a llopublican, but of late j'ears 
he has identified himself with the Prohi- 



580 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



bitiouists. He is the worthy medical ex- 
amiuer of Daltou Subordinate Kuling 
Fraternal Mystic Circle. In his dealings 
with his fellow men he is courteous, open 
and frank. He possesses marked oratori- 
cal abilities, his admirers recognizing him 
as the most eloquent in his portion of the 
county. As a writer, he is forcible, 
pointed, inclined to irony and sarcasm, but 
evincing u love for the descriptive, and is 
just and fair in his criticisms. Perhaps 
one of his best pi-oductions was the report 
of the committee of Wayne Post, G. A. 
R., which was appointed to report on the 
fitness of Gen. Wylie in seconding his 
nomination by Given Post of Wooster, 
Ohio, for his election to the department 
commandership in 1888. He is in the 
prime of his mental powers and bodily 
vigor, has a fondness for exercise on his 
lauds when not otherwise employed, and 
is, perhaps, the hardest worked man in 
all parts in the village, in furthering the 
material interests of which he is ever 
foremost. He is a man of fine tastes; 
loves his home, which is an artistic cottage 
of unique design, evidencing his love for 
the beautiful and ability to arrange. In 
In religion he is an Evangelical Lutheran 
communicant. For years he has been en- 
trusted with the civil engineering of the 
village, all grades having been established 
under his supervision, and he is authority 
on all lines and corners. While the village 



is not what it should be, the older citizens 
mark the improvement made daring the 
last decade. The Doctor's readings are 
broad and liberal, not confined alone to 
his profession : he knows something of 
and can talk on nearly every subject, not 
without having formed an opinion. He 
has few, if any, confidants, perhaps be- 
cause his secrets are not his own alone; is 
a good judge of human nature, makes few 
mistakes in men, and has little cause to 
change an opinion of men once formed. 
One thing is frequently remarked by his 
associates, namely his freedom from vulgar 
conversation, and his frown on such 
language or jests from others. In prose- 
cution of a purpose he is constant, persis- 
tent, relentless ; in defense of a principle, 
religious, political or moral, when once 
grounded, he is fearless and defiant. His 
motives have never been impugned, and 
are recognized as free from selfishness. 

Rev. Benjamin Pope was born May 6, 
1815, on a farm in Fairfield County, Ohio, 
six miles north of the city of Lancaster, and 
was the seventh son and youngest child 
of his father's family. It is possible that the 
innocent superstition about the seventh son 
prompted his father to set aside at the time 
of the son's birth a sum of money for his 
education for the ministry, a provision which 
was faithfully carried out, both on the part 
of the guardian, Rev. Waganhals, of Lan- 
caster, and by the ward, who never slacked 
his labors in the ministry until broken in 
health. He died June 8, 1864. while his 



WAYNE COUNT F. 



581 



son, Dr. Pope, was absent in the military ser- 
vice of his country. How well he wore the 
harness may be seen when it is known that 
at times he served eleven different charges in 
the County of Wayne, Ohio. His collegiate 
education was conducted under the charge of 
Prof. Schmidt, of the Seminary of the Joint 
Synod of Ohio, located at Columbus, now 
called Capitol University, an institution 
which at that time was conducted on the 
plan of the German universities, with for- 
eign instructors, teaching from imported 
German text-books, covering a ' course of 
seven years, which was so rigid that the Am- 
erican youth rebelled and compelled it to 
change its course to four years, which change 
took place after Rev. Pope had completed 
his course. His prominent mental charac- 
teristics shone forth as a linguist, and he 
always read his Scripture tests in the origi- 
nal before sermonizing. As a German scholar 
■ his proficiency was conceded. At one time 
during the early " forties" Edwin M. Stan- 
ton, who knew of his abilities, was conduct- 
ing a trial for attempted murder in Steuben- 
ville, Ohio, in which a German Jew was a 
most important witness, who insisted on mix- 
ing Hebrew with his German. Several at- 
tempts made at interpretation ended in fail- 
ure. In this dilemma Stanton had Rev. 
Pope subpcanaed and sworn as an intei-preter, 
with entire satisfaction. In theology he was 
scarcely less able. His exposition of the 
Godhead is said by scholars to have been 
among the clearest. During the AVar of the 
Ri'belliou he was a warm and earnest sup- 
porter of the Union cause. His brothers 
were divided, those who lived in the North 
going with him and sending their sons, those 
in the South, who were planters, sending 
forth their sons to battle on their respective 
sides. At the last election before his death, 
when quite feeble, he was told to wait until 



a conveyance could be provided for him, but 
he became impatient and said "I do not 
know how soon I may be called away. I want 
my vote to go in, and to go in right. ' ' and so 
tottered on his staff to the polls, but was car 
riod home. This was in the Vallandigham 
campaign, and against him. 

Rev. Pope was a man of magnificent 
physique; tall, erect and muscular, with a 
natural military dignity, but mild disposi- 
tion. He was calm and deliberate in judg- 
ment, pained to see suffering, kind to the 
sick and distressed, rock-bound in his con- 
victions, very social and pleasant in company, 
an enthusiastic student, having great rever- 
ence for the authorities and writings of the 
leaders of his sect. With the exception of 
the eldest none of his father's family devel- 
oped any love for learning. It is but just, 
however, to state that they were among the 
pioneers of the Ohio wilderness, and during 
their school days the nearest school was four 
miles distant from the Pope homestead, and 
only held during the three winter months. 
Rev. Pope frequently referred to his 
trudging along, when he was five vears of 
age, with his older brothers through a 
trackless forest where it frequently became 
necessary for the older ones to carry him on 
their backs through the deepest snow and 
over foot-logs spanning torrents. With one 
exception (he a hotel landlord and owner) his 
brothers were all successful owners of farms 
in the North or plantations in the South, and 
the only sister, who died early in married 
life, was the wife of a farmer. With the 
exception of Rev. Benjamin all were born in 
Greenbrier County, Va., whence the family 
moved to Ohio. 

Their father, Frederick Pope, was the 
youngest of a family of seven children, five 
sons and one daughter, and one who died in 
infancy, sex unknown. Frederick was born 



582 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



February 7, 1773, in Rockingham County, 
Va., and May 24, 1804, he married Mary 
Ketner, also born in Rockingham County, 
who had inherited from her Scotch-Irish 
grandparents a very large estate in lands and 
slaves. A very pretty story is told of her 
father, who, as a German redemptioner, was 
retained by his purchaser as a teacher for his 
children, but who, by his superior accom- 
plishments and learning, secured the parents' 
confidence, wooed the daughter, and with 
one bold stroke won his wife, a nice estate 
and his freedom from seven years' service, in 
less than one year. After his marriage Fred- 
erick Pope removed to Greenbrier County, 
Va. In 1813 he had espoused the Abolition 
doctrine, once such a warm political question 
in Virginia, and which, on a heavy vote, came 
very near being carried by the people of the 
State. From conviction he concluded to re- 
move to the free State of Ohio, and to give 
his slaves their freedom, which he did the 
following year, abandoning a large estate 
and setting free 194 slaves, of all ages. It 
has been claimed by some that he was being 
eaten up with his slaves, that they were un- 
remunerative, and that it was not convic- 
tion, but necessity, that drove him to the 
act. Circumstances show that this can not 
he so. Nancy, an old house slave, who had 
nursed him in his infancy, had been given to 
him upon his marriage, and, in turn, nursed 
his family as they were born. "When the 
family moved to Ohio, she, with the other 
slaves, was given her freedom, but, after 
remaining behind for a time, followed, and 
asked to be permitted to return her pajjers and 
come into voluntary servitude. Her former 
master told her he had left Virginia to clear 
himself and his family of the sin of slavery, 
but that he would build her a home, which 
he did, the remains of which, on the old 
homestead, in Fairfield County, Ohio, were 



visible in 1872, and to which the descendants 
pointed with pride as an evidence of their 
father's humanity and justice. In his will 
he provided for her siipport and burial. 
Years after Nancy referred to the subject in 
frequent conversations, and gave much evi- 
dence of her master's conscientious motives. 
Again, after he and his wife had been in 
Ohio for some time, the wife's heart turned 
to their former home, biit the husband said; 
"The property is there unincumbered; there 
is money wherewith to purchase other slaves, 
if you want them; you may return if you 
want to; but, as for me, I prefer to remain 
among freemen, even though they be savage 
Indians, rather than see the humblest man 
as a slave." She seems to have been of a 
different mold, for to the day of her death 
no line of reasoning, faith, religion or creed, 
could convince her that an Ethiopian was 
human in the sense of a white man, or that 
a higher responsibility accorded man's deal- 
ings with them than with a brute. She felt 
that they were dependent, and a sense of 
humanity toward the lower creation should 
prompt their care and oversight. During 
the winter of 1816 Mr. Pope returned on 
horseback to Virginia, to transact some un- 
settled business. While on his return he 
contracted a fever, but, nothing daunted, he 
pressed forward toward home. From' expos- 
ure and other causes concomitant to such a 
condition, he never recovered, gradually 
growing worse, until November 7, 1817, 
when he expired, leaving an enviable repu- 
tation. Of his brothers, Adam, the eldest, 
enlisted early in the Revolutionary army, and 
served nearly seven years. Jacob, the sec 
ond, served one year, contracted disease in 
the army, returned home, and soon after 
died. Aljraham entered the same army some 
time in 1778, serving until 1781, being pres- 
ent at and witness of the surrender of Lord 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



583 



Cornwallis, at Yorktown, and returned home 
with his discharge about the time he entered 
his twentieth year. Of the remaining brother 
and sister little is known, farther than that 
Henry removed to Kentucky, and became the 
head of a respected and influential family. 

Of such a line of honorable descent, it is 
not surprising that the later members of the 
family should be proud, but it liecomes prof- 
itable to pursue the ancestors farther. The 
father of Frederick Pope was John Christ- 
man Pope. His father's given name is un- 
known, but it is known that he held some 
kind of a franchise, title or office, and was 
the possessor of considerable estates. It has 
always been held as a legend of the family 
that they came from the mountains of Ger- 
many, of the province of HohenzoUern ex- 
traction, and of ancient German family. In 
some papers in existence their origin is given 
as from the Kingdom of Wittemburg, but 
another sentence says their home was but 
eighteen miles from the river Rhine. This 
would indicate a case of mis-spelling, and 
place them from the Schwartzwald near 
the Bavarian line, a portion of the now King- 
dom of Wurtemberg. However this may be, 
and the equally disputed question as to 
whether the name was originally Bobe or 
Pope as insisted upon by the more modern 
family, it is not disputed that the family early 
espoused the Protestant or Lutheran faith; 
that one of the early fathers laid down his 
life on the altar of his religion under the 
banners of Gustavus Adolphus, and that the 
family, along with others of a most worthy 
Protestant community, were outrageously 
treated and di'iven from their homes, and 
took refuge in England. That after the con- 
test ended, the Austrian emperor, seeing the 
great wrong that had been done his country, 
sent embassadors to treat for their return, 
guaranteeing them the restoration of their 



property, estates, security in their religious 
worship, and immunity from military service 
at their option, enumerating that they were 
recognized as a superior class of artisans and 
agriculturists, in possession of scieutitic and 
craft knowledge indispensable to the superior 
standing of his empire, and that he did induce 
many to return, among whom were some of 
the Popes. The country was Roman Catho- 
olic in religion, and the returned exiles being 
in the minority, a long line of abuses are 
enumerated as following. 

At length the guarantee was broken by a 
later monarch, and an attempt made to force 
the young men into the hateful army of the 
Roman Catholic government, to fight against 
those of the same faith as was then possible. 
This was the state of affairs in 1730, when 
John Christman Pope was eighteen years 
old. He appears to have been the center of 
a circle of well-to-do j'oung men of Protest- 
ant families. The notice to enter the mili- 
tary service had included sixteen others be- 
sides himself, of the same circle. By some 
preconcerted arrangement the circle con- 
vened, discussed the perfidy of the govern- 
ment, and resolved to flee. The precise 
order or details are unknown, but a time was 
agreed upon and passports secured, where 
required, but in what manner, if divulged, 
is equally mysterious. This much is known, 
that on a certain night at 10 p. m., they left 
their place of rendezvous, walked over the 
eighteen miles, and crossed the Rhine River 
before the following morning, into another 
country. Short of funds, with every avenue 
shut off by the now vigilant government of- 
ficials, they spent what money they had to 
reach the seashore, where th<?y bound them- 
selves as redemptioners in America for their 
passage across the Ocean. In the month of 
October, 1830, or 1831, they landed in Phil- 
adelphia, whore they wore all sold [so says 



584 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



the chronicler]. By the same ship which 
brought Mr. Pope to America, he sent word 
back to his mother, brothers and sister. For 
the reason of his refusal to report, the gov- 
ernment during his absence had confiscated 
his estate and title, to which, as the eldest 
son, he had fallen heir, when he was twelve 
years old, on the death of his father in 1724. 
In keeping with his station he was liberally 
and carefully educated, and at the age of 
seventeen was considered quite proficient. 
This confiscation left the mother and remain- 
ing childi'en no means of support. The 
country was ravaged by past wars and dis- 
tracted by internal feuds; there was little 
left them there, and humiliated and im- 
poverished they resolved to follow. Accord- 
ingly, two years later, in the month of Octo- 
ber, the mother and family followed and 
landed at the same jjort. John C. had been 
sold to a Quaker in Philadelphia, and his 
mother was also sold to a party in or near 
the same city. One of the boys was sold to 
a Hollander who took him to where a por- 
tion of the city of New York now stands. 
The other went with a planter to South 
Carolina, near Charleston; what became of 
the daughter is unknown, and the boys 
never met again. 

The education and advantages which 
John C. had enjoyed served him well, and 
he was enabled to complete his seven years' 
contract in three years, as well as serve two 
years for his mother, who had been sold for 
a term of five years. When their terms had 
expired, John, with his mother, immigrated to 
Rockingham County, Va. , about 1737, and 
settled on public land. He was quite suc- 
cessful as a planter, and remained a bachelor 
until after his mother's death. In 1758, 
when he was forty-six years of age, he married 
a Miss Burghart. The date of his death is 
unknown. It has been derisively said that 



he left his home in Germany for fear of mil- 
itary service, but such a position in the face 
of facts can not for a moment be maintained. 
His position at home must have given him 
preferment in the military service; and if it 
was from hatefulness of military restraint, 
certainly he could not have bettered his con- 
dition by an uncertain service of seven years 
in an unknown land, and possibly with a 
brutal master in a strange tongue. Besides, 
there is abundant evidence that he was a 
man who loved the excitement of danger, and 
sought the outposts of civilization during his 
most vigorous years. It will thus be seen 
that on the paternal side, with one exception 
so far as known, there is a line of pure Ger- 
man blood, from the great middle class, 
clinging to the religion, customs and tradi- 
tions of their fathers, with tenacity, a people 
of conscience rather than policy or diplomacy. 
Thinkers in advance of their age, living and 
dying for their fellowmen, yet hated and 
persecuted by their beneficiaries. Such lives 
of conviction, religious devotion when it cost 
so much, practical abolitionists when it re- 
quired such a sacrifice, are seldom found in 
family lines. Plain and simple in habits, 
social and generous in their relations with 
their fellowmen, brave, fearless and out- 
spoken in public matters, defiant in defense 
of, or aggressive in prosecution of, convic- 
tion, but never vindictive; exacting of them- 
selves, and just in their dealings and morals; 
set in herculean frames, with constitutions of 
iron, they were Nature's true noblemen. 

Dr. Pope's mother comes of different 
stock, in many resjjects the antipodes of his 
father's people: Cold, cautious and calculat- 
ing; mathematical, methodical, exact and ex- 
acting, they show long lines of financiers and 
business men, possessed, in many cases, of 
magnificent if not gigantic intellects. Where 
they have gained distinction it is mainly for 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



585 



their wealth and colossal business mothods. 
Their advent in America was duriuf^ the 
colonial period, settling in Southern Penn- 
sylvania and Maryland. The family claim to 
be of pure German, Protestant families. It 
has been said by some that they are of 
French origin, and before settling in Ger- 
many were known as Rappee; but the family 
disclaim any knowledge of this, and give it 
no weight. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Mary Pope, the wife of 
Rev. Benjamin Pope, is the eldest child of 
George and Ann Hippee, who were among 
the pioneers of Canton, Ohio, where the fa- 
ther built the sixth house in the place, for 
himself, at a very early date, on a lot on East 
Tuscarawas Street, a part of which lot is now 
occupied by the Cleveland, Canton & South- 
ern Railroad depot and offices, and in which 
house Mrs. Pope was born, September 14, 
1823. Her education was principally con- 
ducted in the Canton Female Seminary, un- 
der the care of Dr. Goshorn, from which 
institution she graduated. On her twentieth 
birthday, September 14, 1843, she was mar- 
ried to Rev. Benjamin Pope, and they settled 
in Delaware, Ohio, where he was pastor of a 
church. She and her husliand conducted a 
private school in that city, but, from appar- 
ently failing health, she was compelled to 
relinquish her work. We quote from Doug- 
lass' History of Wayne County, of her work 
in the city of Wooster: 

In the spring of 1849 she became the successor 
of Mrs. Mf'Kee, wife of the .Seceder minister of the 
long-gone by, she trnnsfcrring lo Mrs. Pope lier 
pupils, numbering five or six. whom she instructed 
about two months. In Orlober she opened the 
session, assisted by Miss Sarah Ilippee, with be- 
tween thirtj' and forty pupils upon the roll. * * 
* In the spring of IH.)3 she took possession of the 
old aeademy building, and continued her labors as 
principal of the institution until 1W>, estal)lishing 
for herself and her school a reputation that made 
the name of "Mrs, I'ope's Seminary at Wooster," 
popular throughout Wayne and neighboring coun- 
ties. 



The statement, "Mrs. Pope's Seminary," 
in the foregoing extract is incorrect, It was 
known as Grove Female Seminary, and for 
years had more boarding pupils than there 
were rooms to supply in the building, while 
the entire roll averaged about 200, tak- 
ing one year with another. It bad a full 
cori>s of teachers, in which Rev. B. Pope 
taught the languages, and literature, Mrs. E. 
M. Pope the higher mathematics and sciences, 
including mental and moral philosophy, 
while others taught the other requirements 
of a young lady's education — music in all its 
branches, drawing, painting, embroidery, etc. 
The institution furnished some of the finest 
teachers in the country, while its diplomas 
are considered prizes of rare worth, even at 
this day. Mrs. Pope is possessed of remark- 
able mental powers. Mathematics she is 
passionately fond of, and few men possess so 
extensive a book knowledge, or a clearer per- 
ception of the exact sciences. It was this re- 
markable faculty which brought her forward 
so prominently among the eminent educators 
of the country. Her ability to reason and 
draw conclusions has been the subject of re- 
mark by those able to judge. Her govern- 
ment and executive ability is remarkable; her 
attention to details is large. Her every mo- 
tion marks her as possessing a consciousness 
of her superiority, while her carriage is the 
pulsation of great nerve force in which her 
whole frame trembles. Her mastery at once 
combines the dignified military precision and 
the judicial detection. For this reason her 
school always contained the incorrigible girls 
of the period, ami gave her the dictatorial and 
austere air, which drew from the youth the 
nickname for the school of "The Nunnery," 
and for tlii> principal that of "Mother Su])e 
rior." It will thus bo seen that while her fam 
ily have shown individual guns of large cali- 
ber, viewed from their special environments, 



5S6 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



she has shown massive mental powers, and in 
comparison may be said to be a battery of 
guns of large caliber. But with all her mag- 
niliceut abilities, the peculiarities of her fam- 
ily characteristics stand out repellant as an 
electric battery, an object of admiration, but 
not of adoration. For many years she has 
been an invalid, yet her work is not done, 
her former pupils are ever returning for re- 
view, advice, instruction, and to do homage 
to her superior genius. Her father, George 
Hippee, comes of a dignified family, which 
embraces many individuals of recognized 
mental ability. His mother's name was 
Heisley, and her mother's maiden name was 
Ann Schriber. She was born in Adams Coun- 
ty, Penn. , and a portion of her father's es- 
tate was embraced within the territory of the 
field of the battle of Gettysburg. She was a 
shrewd, discriminating and magnetic wo- 
man, who won people by her earnestness, 
rather than by any charms. As a maiden, 
however, she was considered handsome; as a 
mother her affection for her children knew 
no bounds, no sacrifice was too great for 
their comfort or advantage; and while her 
husband had been successful, financially, in 
life, he admitted before his death that had 
her advice been taken he would have been 
better off. 

In the fall of 1848 Rev. Pope accepted a 
call from the church at Wooster and sur- 
rounding congregations, and removed with 
his family to that city. Here among the 
characters that at that time gave it its pecu- 
liar character and reputation, its strange 
mixture of extreme education and refinement, 
and the equally extreme of dare-deviltry and 
vice, the younger Pope grew up. Classed 
among and environed by the better people, 
he nevertheless was frequently brought in 
contact with the more common. Of high 
spirit and somewhat pugnacious, it is not sur- 



prising that his acts were more conspicuous 
than one of either class especially. It is 
quite probable, therefore, that his pugilistic 
reputation has been overpainted. It is cer- 
tain that he gave his parents much concern 
and put his father to the pains of frequently 
punishing him. On this point he jocularly 
remarks that his father always did his duty 
by him, and that he did not enjoy good 
health unless he was whipped once a day. One 
thing all agree upon is that he was either 
very dexterous and powerful or an adept in 
the science of pugilism, as his actual combats 
were severe and numerous as many of his 
contestants agree. He was usually accom- 
panied by a mastiff, which was as much a 
terror among brutes as was his owner among 
human beings, either one backing the other 
to such an extent that each was usually taken 
as a measure of the other's wickedness Age 
caused him to become more reserved and dig- 
nified, and he came to despise and avoid what 
he formerly would not bend for. 

The Doctor in speaking of the family's 
financial condition at that time says that a 
parson's ample legacy was theirs: a good 
name, noble aspirations, a pure character 
and clean hands not tarnished with filthy 
lucre. Under such circumstances the boys' 
speculative characteristics were cudgeled in- 
to activity, devising means to furnish spend- 
ing money, as the paternal exchequer was 
barely able to furnish the necessary family 
wants. In one of these extremes he put in- 
to existence the advice of Bamum to make 
money. His father had become possessed of 
an equine beauty to which the reverend 
gentleman had liecome devotedly attached. 
The Doctor in embryo, with his father's 
razor finely honed, shaved from the horse 
his coat of hair, and advertised a mustang 
horse which, for a small admittance fee, 
might be seen. Judge of the reverend's 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



587 



feelings wben he beheld his stylish funeral 
cortege leader in his new attire, his caudal 
extremity slashing without briish at the unin- 
terrupted flies upon his l)are sides, nearly 
frantic I The Doctor says that the whipping 
then inflicted was the only one of which he 
■was afraid, as he began to think he was going 
to be killed, his father for the once being 
really angry; and, to his great mortiticatiou, 
by far the largest audience he had yet had 
entered the place of exhibition without pay- 
ing a cent. 



HRISTIAN EBY, a retired farmer 
. residing on Section 6, in Greene 
^^ Township, Wayne County,and whose 
postoffice address is Smithville, Ohio, was 
born in Lancaster County, Peun. His 
grandfather, Jacob Eby, a native of 
Switzerland, came to America more 
than 100 years ago, when quite a young 
man, settling in Lancaster County, Penn., 
where he was married to Annie Overholt- 
zer, a native of that county. Tliey had 
two sons and two daughters, none of 
whom are now living, the youngest of the 
family, also named Jacob, becoming the 
father of Christian. He, Jacob, was born 
in Manor Township, Lancaster County, 
Juno 7, 1797, was brought up to farming, 
working for his father until the latter's 
death, when the younger Jacob was nine- 
teen years of age. He and his elder 
brother Christian then took the farm, 



carrying it on until Jacob married, when 
he bought his brother's interest and there- 
after owned it alone. In the fall of 1S4S 
he sold it, and following year moved tn 
Ohio, settling in Section 20, Milton Town- 
ship, Wayne County, where he lived until 
his death, January 5, 1862. A man of 
kind, honest and generous nature, he had 
many friends, and bore an irreproachable 
name. Shortly after his marriage he 
joined the Mennonite Church, of which he 
was a consistent member until his death. 
He was married in Lancaster County. 
Peun., February 5, 1823, to Elizabeth 
Sander, whose ancestry were from Switzer- 
land, her grandfather emigrating from 
there with two brothers about 200 years 
ago. All these ancestors were members 
of the Mennonite Church. The father of 
Elizabeth, named Jacob, settled on a farm 
in Lancaster County, where he died. His 
family consisted of four sons and six 
daughters, all now deceased. Elizabeth 
was born on the farm in Lancaster County, 
January 20, 1808, and died on the Milton 
Township homestead, November 1-4, 1S50. 
Jacob and Elizabeth Eby had eleven 
children, viz. : Elizabeth, who died young, 
and an infant at birth ; the others, all born 
in Pennsylvania, were Anna, liorn Jan- 
uai'y 3, 1824,and died in Milton Township, 
in August, 1871, was wife of Jose[)h 
Leatherman; Catherine, born October 11, 
1825, is the wife of John Hoover, of 



58^ 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Mediua Couuty, Ohio; Christian (our 
subject), born March 17, 1827; Jacob, 
boru February 15, 1829, is on the Ohio 
homestead ; Mary, unmarried, living with 
Jacob, was born October 2, 1830; John, 
born April 26, 1833, lives near Goshen, 
lud. ; Samuel, born November 5, 1837, is 
unmarried and lives in Canaan Township, 
this county; Barbara, born April 4, 1840, 
died at Berea, Ohio, November 14, 1840, 
and Tobias, born October 30, 1811, in 
Allen County, Ohio. 

Christian Eby was twenty-two years 
old when his parents moved to Ohio. 
He resided with them until his marriage, 
five 3'ears later, and then went to live 
with his wife's father for a year. He 
next farmed the homestead on shares for 
two years, and then bought twenty-five 
acres ou the northwest corner of Section 
20, Milton Township, where he lived a 
year and a half. lu the spring of 1858 
he bought of his wife's father his present 
farm, and removed to it the following fall. 
February 28, 1834, Mr. Eby was married 
to Mary Ann, daughter of Jacob and 
Elizabeth (Feightuer) Schrag, of Greene 
Township, former born in Switzerland, in 
June, 1792, and died September 8, 1858 ; 
latter born in Somerset County, Penn., 
August 3, 1804, and came with her 
parents to Ohio when seventeen years old. 
She lives part of the time with Mr. and 
Mrs. Eby, and part with her daughter 



Christina, wife of Jacob Gochnour, in 
Wayne Township, this county. Notwith- 
standing her advanced age, she is in full 
possession of all her faculties. Jacob 
Schrag was an industrious man, of a kind, 
neighborly disposition, and well thought 
of. Mr. and Mrs. Christian Eby were the 
parents of six children: Jacob and John 
(deceased in infancy), Elizabeth, Mary 
Ann, Christian S. and Barbara E., living 
with their parents. Mr. and Mrs. Eby 
are membersof the Medina County (Ohio) 
Mennonite Church, and are conscientious 
and upright people, good neighbors, well 
spoken of by evei'y one who knows them. 
During their many years' residence in 
Greene Township, many friends and no 
enemies have been made by them, and we 
are pleased to print this testimony of their 
worth. 



/ 



L JIfRS. MARY (WOODS) MAIZE, 
\/\ widow of Jeremiah Maize, a 
former well-known resident of 
Wayne County, now lives in the 
house in which he died, in the city of 
Wooster. She was born in Allegheny 
County, Penn., August 19, 1824, a daughter 
of Alexander and Mary (Robbins) Woods, 
the former a native of Ireland, who was 
brought to this country by his parents 
when he was but three years of age, they 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



589 



settliug iu Pennsvlvanin. The mother 
was born at Wetheisfield, Couu., her an- 
cestors being Yankees. Brintnall Rob- 
bius, our subject's grandfather, was a 
revolutionary soldier, and drew a pension 
from the Government. When Mnry Rob- 
bins was but five years of age her parents 
removed to Pennsylvania, and there she 
grew to womanhood, and met and wedded 
Alexander Woods. Five children were 
born to them, but two of whom are now 
living, our subject, and a brother, Reuben 
W., now a resident of Illinois. In 1843, 
Alexander Woods fell a victim to that 
dread disease, consumption, at the age of 
fifty-two, his wife surviving him nearly 
twenty years, dying in 1802, aged nearly 
seventy-six years. They had made their 
home in Wayne County in 1833. Mr. 
Woods was an ardent Abolitionist, and 
both were members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

The subject of this sketch was ten years 
old when her parents came to Wayne 
County, and here she grew to womanhood, 
and here her home has ever since been. 
At the age of twenty-one she was united 
in marriage with Jeremiah Maize, a na- 
tive of Dauphin County, Penn., his parents 
also being natives of that State. His 
father was a contractor, and built many 
locks, bridges, etc. In 1834, Jeremiah 
Maize came to Wayne County, which 
thereafter remained his home until his 



death. His parents both came at the 
same time, and both died in Wooster. 
Jacob Maize kept the stage office in the 
American Hotel building, where he had 
the first regular stage line ever run out 
of Wooster. Some time prior to his mar- 
riage he had built a house and barn on 
his farm in Wooster Township, now owned 
by Gen. Wiley, and to that place he took 
his young wife, they making their home 
there, for some four years. Later he 
moved to a farm he had purchased in 
Wooster Township, south of Wooster, and 
remained thereon until 1809, when the 
family removed to Wooster, which was 
his home until his death, which oc- 
curred in October, 1885, at which time 
he was sixty-five years old. His life had 
been a busy and a successful one. He 
had keen, shrewd judgment, and did not 
follow in any beaten track, but took those 
paths and followed those plans which prom- 
ised the greatest success. While living 
on his farm ho dealt largely in stock, and 
found it profital)le. 

Jeremiah Maize and our subject were 
parents of six children, viz: Jacob Alex- 
ander, Alice L., Harvey W., and Mattie 
F., all deceased; and Horace A. and Frank, 
both farmers in Wooster Township. Hor- 
ace A. resides on the old homestead. He 
was united in marriage with Miss Louise 
McClure, daughter of Matthew and Eliza- 
beth McClure, and to this union have 



590 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



been born three children, viz: Harvey, '■ 
Percy and Florence. Frank resides on a ' 
farm near the old horae. He married Miss 
Kate Hartman, daughter of B. J., and 
Elizabeth Hartman, and a native of Woos- 
ter; they have one child, Paul. Jere- 
miah Maize in his lifetime was highly re- 
spected, and his personal character was 
without stain. In all his niimerous busi- 
ness transactions he ever sustained an 
honest reputation. 




JLLIAM NOLD. This gentle- 
man is a respected citizen of 
-^ Wayne County, and was one of 
its early settlers. He was born in Wetz- 
lar, Prussia, November 19, 1819, and in 
his native land learned the trade of a 
butcher, which had been the vocation of 
his father and others of his ancestors. 
His father, John Nold, immigrated to 
America in 1837, bringing with him his 
wife, four daughters and son William. 
The family lived in New York for a year, 
where the father carried on his trade. 
But he determined to seek a home in the 
West, and in 1838, reached Wooster, 
where he concluded to settle. The country 
was then new, and the settlers had many 
hardships to endure and difficulties to 
overcome, but with stout hearts and will- 



ing hands the immigrants persevered, 
and soon made for themselves a home. 
At this time they experienced much diffi- 
culty in their business. The cattle were 
wild, and had to be often chased for long 
distances and brought for miles to the 
town, after being shot. It was from the 
exhaustion caused by pursuing on foot 
these wild cattle, that the death of John 
Nold resulted. Notwithstanding the ex- 
treme labor required to capture and pre- 
pare the meat for market, money was 
so scarce that a quarter of beef sold from 
$1.50 to $2.50, and mutton was corres- 
pondingly cheap, bringing from two to 
three shillings a quarter. The father did 
not, however, live many years to enjoy 
his new home, dying in 1843, at the age 
of fifty-two. In 18G2 his widow followed 
him to the grave, at the age of sixty-six 
years. This worthy couple were parents 
of seven children, two of whom died in 
Germany ; one died in this country, and 
our subject and three sisters still reside in 
Wooster; the latter are Mrs. A. Imgard, 
Mrs. F. Imgard and Mrs. G. Gasche. 

The education of William Nold was 
received in the schools of his native 
country. He has labored hard in the 
land of his adoption, aiding his father, and 
has not only seen, but materially helped 
to make, the wonderful changes which 
have converted a wilderness into a prosper- 
ous county. In June, ISH, when in his 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



591 



twenty-fifth year, he was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Frederika, daughter of 
William Hoeguer, and a native of Penn- 
sylvania. Of this union five children 
were born, viz. : Matilda, who died at the 
age of twenty; William, who died in in- 
fancy; Jeanette, Mrs. John Hoelzel, of 
Wooster; Mary, Mrs. W. Groff, of Col- 
umbus, Ohio, and Ella, wife of Rev. M. 
Groh, of Silver City, N. M. For more 
than thirty years Mr. Nold carried on the 
business of butchering, and in June, 
1865, having by constant industry and 
attention to business, and thrifty habits, 
accumulated a competence, he retired fi-om 
active labor, and at once made a visit to 
the home of his childhood. He also 
traveled through France and Switzei-land. 
During the Civil War, while the Six- 
teenth Ohio Infantry was stationed at 
Wooster, he supplied it with meat, and 
the manner in which he discharged his 
duty gave great satisfaction. In politics 
he affiliates with the Democratic party, 
and for a number of years was elected 
township trustee ; for eight years he was a 
trustee of the Wooster Water Works, 
discharging all duties entrusted to him in 
a highly creditable manner. For forty- 
three years he has been a member of the 
I. O. O. F., and was one of the founders 
of the order in Wooster. He is also 
identified with the K. of P. and the Inde- 
pendent Order of Red Men. He is an 



active member of the German Reformed 
Church. 

Mr. Nold lias always occupied a high 
place in the regard of his fellow citizens, 
and is one of the most respected men in 
the county. He has aided materially in 
the upbuilding of the city of Wooster, 
and Nold Avenue was named in his honor 



DAVID FOGELSON. This well- 
i known old citizen of Wayne County 

has spent well-nigh sixty years 

within her borders. He was born in Lan- 
caster, Fairfield Co., Ohio, February 2-4, 
1808. His father, named John, was a na- 
tive of Washington County, Md., of Ger- 
man parentage, and was married to Ruth 
Nagle, who was a native-born American. 
Her father and two of his brothers were 
Revolutionary soldiers, and both of his 
brothers died while in service. John Fo- 
gelsou and wife had eight children, and 
David is the only one of the three survi- 
vors who lives in Wayne County. The 
father was a blacksmith by trade, and 
died in 1848, in Fairfield County, Ohio, 
whither he had migrated. Tiie mother 
died in 1854, in Allen County, Ind. 

Our subject learned the trade of shoe- 
maker, in Mansfield, Ohio, and in 1S'20 
came to Wayne County, arriving Novem- 
ber 7 in Wooster, which has ever since 



592 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



been his home. There he followed his 
trade until 1878, when he retired to the 
repose of private life, well earned by a 
long life of industry and frugality, and is 
now enjoying his rest and the respect of 
his life-long neighbors. February 17, 
1835, he was united in marriage with 
Euth, daughter of Christian and Lydia 
(Eaton) Smith, and a native of Wayne 
County. Her parents were born at Big 
Egg Harbor, N. J.,, and were among the 
pioneers of Wayne County, where they 
located in 1809. He was a dresser of 
deer skins, and soon after their marriage 
removed to Greenbriar County, Va., where 
the promise of business seemed good, and 
from there he went to near Washington 
City, and thence to Pittsburgh, and 
from there removed farther down the 
Ohio and established a ferry, and after 
some time they came to Wayne County, 
where both died. Mr. and Mrs. Fogelson 
had eight children: Maria, now a resi- 
dent of Duluth, Minn. ; Byron, in Woos- 
ter; Schiller, in Marion County, Ohio; 
Irving, in Duluth, Minn. ; Josephine, liv- 
ing with her parents, and Corydon, Luther 
and Franklin, deceased. 

When Mr. Fogelson came to Wooster 



it was but a small place, and he has wit- 
nessed and participated in its growth and 
development to its present flourishing con- 
dition. His early life was one of labor 
and struggle, but a firm will and a deter- 
mination to succeed has brought success. 
He has ever been industrious, temperate 
and upright, and now, in the evening of 
his days, is reaping his just reward. 
Though advanced in years he and his 
faithful wife are well preserved and in 
good health, and are comfortably living in 
their family home on Henry Street. 
Both are valued members of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church. In politics he is 
a Republican, but has never taken an ac- 
tive part in public affairs. At the time 
of the Kebelliou our subject being too old 
to go himself remained at home, but was 
represented by three of his sons — Byron, 
Corydon and Schiller; Corydon, at the 
Battle of the Wilderness, received a wound 
from which he never recovered. He was 
shot in the mouth, the ball lodging in his 
neck, from which paralysis resulted. 

Mr. Fogelson has a clearness of mind 
quite exceptional for his time of life, which, 
with his extensive experience, makes him 
an entertaining conversationalist. 



WAYNE COUSTy. 



593 



II n ATTHEW JOHNSON ami Sarah, 
lYI ^^^ wife, settled iii Wooster iu 
J -" Is 17, having come from Beaver 
County, Peun. They were two of 
the first members of the old Seceder 
Church, now called United Presbyterian. 
He was born March 20, 1785, and died 
June 17, 1853. Mrs. Johnson was born 
May 20, 1787, and died February 5, 1877, 
a remarkabh- smart and interesting old 
lady, loved and respected by all who knew 
her. They had a family of six sons and 
one daughter: John, Matthew, James, 
Elias S., William, Perry and Belinda, the 
hitter of whom married Thomas Power and 
resided iu Wooster until her death, in 
lsS2. Tlie sons were all active business 
men, none now living, James, the last 
.-^urviviuii one, dviujr iu Wooster in 1888. 



WILLIAM H. BANKER, of Woos- 
ter, is proprietor of the largest 
-^ — ' carriage and wagon manufactory 
in Wayne County, is one of its most en- 
terprising business men, and an important 
factor in its prosperity. He was born in 
Germany. September 13, 1838, and had 
tlie misfortune to lose his father (whose 
name was Henry ) when he was but four 
years old. Six years later, when our sub- 
ject was ten years of age, his mother de- 
cided to come to America, and join a 

33 



lirother, George Nieman. a resident of 
Pittsburgli, Penn. In this place they 
lived until William H. was sixteen years 
old, when his uncle decided to go to Cali- 
fornia, in search of gold, leaving his 
family behind. He then began learning 
the trade of carriage-making with C. 
West, one of the most extensive dealers 
at that time in Pittsburgh. He also as- 
sisted his aunt in carrying on his uncle's 
business. He remained in Pittsburgh 
until 1863, when he came to Ohio, and 
began work at his trade for a carriage 
maker there, with whom he remained un- 
til 1874. The panic which began in Octo- 
ber of the previous year causing the 
failure of his employer, Mr. Banker 
purchased the shop from the assignees, 
and this was the beginning of the exten- 
sive business which he has since built up 
and is now carrying on, and which his 
rare good business ability and thoroughly 
upright dealing have brought to its |)res- 
ent large pn)portions. 

In ISUO Mr. Banker was married to 
Miss Christiana Heinlein, a native of 
Pittsburgh. Their wedded life was of 
l)ut short duration, as the angel of death 
claimed her ten years later, and she 
passed away leaving four children, all 
of whom are yet living. Her two sons, 
William D. and Albert C, are in Pitts- 
burgh, where they are engaged in the 
manufacture of bicvcles; a ilaughter. 



594 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



now Mrs. W. L. Firestone, resides in 
Wooster, and Flora Eliza is still under the 
paternal roof. In 1871 Mr. Banker was 
again married, his bride being Miss Alvi- 
ra Barnes, who has borne him two sons: 
Arthur L. and George August. Mr. 
Banker is in the fullest sense of the word 
a self-made man, and the competence he 
has acquired and the honorable place he 
holds in the community are the rewards 
won by his untiring industry, honesty 
and upright life. He fills a large place 
in the public affairs of his adopted city. 
In politics he acts with the Democratic 
party, and he is now serving his third 
term in the city council; for four years 
he was trustee of the city water works 
board; was chairman of the building com- 
mittee when the new city hall was built, 
and was the prime mover in estal)lishing 
a paid fire department. He had always 
taken a warm interest in fire depart- 
ment matters, for fifteen years being con- 
nected with the department in Wooster, 
and for ten years he had been one of the 
fire commissioners of the city of Pitts- 
burgh. In fact in every enterprise tend- 
ing to the welfare of the community he 
has borne a prominent and active part. 
In social life he is also well known, and 
is a leading member of many organiza- 
tions. He affiliates with the orders of 
the K. of H., the K. of P., the Iron Hall, 
Chosen Friends, and he and his wife are 



closely identified with the English Lu- 
theran Church. Mrs. Banker takes much 
interest in the Mission Aid Society, and 
both are liberal contributors to all benev- 
olent projects. They have a wide circle 
of fi'iends, and no family stands higher 
in the esteem of the community. 



/ 



V J( ON. AVELLINGTON STILWELL, 
'^ attorney atlaw, Millersburgh, Ohio, 
is a native of Holmes County, born 
in 1817. He is a descendant of an 
English family that was prominent in the 
days of Charles I and Charles II. The 
family name was originally Cook, and 
consisted of three brothers who were 
leaders of the party opposed to the 
crowned head of England. One held a 
prominent position imder the British Gov- 
ernment during the reign of Charles I, 
and was executed for being conspicuous 
in securing the death of the Kiug. The 
two remaining brothers then removed to 
Holland, whence all letters sent were 
signed Stil-well, and finally became Stil- 
well. The family has been a prominent 
one both in military and civil life, and 
since its identification with American his- 
tory has had representatives at the bar, 
on the bench, in State legislature and in 
Congress. At an early day the name be- 
came prominent in the State of Ohio. 




rxr^' 



,f<^ 



./ 




' / 





WAVXE COUXTV. 



b'.r, 



The representntive of the family who 
is the subject of our notice is no excep- 
tion to the general rule, and although in 
youth his circumstances were not at all 
encouraging to one fired with an ambition 
to hold a high position among his fellow- 
men, yet by determination and persever- 
ance he was finally successful, and today 
he stands at the bead of his profession, 
and is one of the most honored men in 
the county. His early life was one of toil 
on the homestead farm. Paying his way 
by teaching during the winter, he ob- 
tained an academic education, and theu 
turned his attention to the study of his 
chosen profession, and in 1868 was ad- 
mitted to the bar. He served four years 
as school examiner, to the general satis- 
faction of teachers and public. Already 
his fellow-citizens recognized the ability 
of the young attorney, and the following 
year he was called upon to represent them 
in the State legislature. Here, nlthougii 
one of the youngest members of that body, 
he was conspicuous in the argument and 
as the first to open the discussion upon 
the famous Fifteenth Amendment del^ate. 
In 1872 he was again returned to the 
legislature, thus serving a period of four 
years. For several years he gave his at- 
tention to the practice of his profession, 
and his work was usually attended with 
success, both at the bar and as a coun- 
sellor. In 1882 he was the choice of the 



Democratic party for, and elected liy a 
large majority to, the position of Judge 
of the Common Pleas District compo.sed 
of Holmes, Coshocton, Wayne, Riciiland, 
Ashland, Morrow, Knox, Delaware and 
Licking Counties. In this position he 
has performed his duties impartially, and 
is lionored by the profession, irrespective 
of political preferences. At the close of his 
time he declined renomiuation. preferring 
to resume liis [)ractice, whidi is a lucra- 
tive and in every way a satisfactory one. 
The question of tariff, its operation 
and effect, has probalily received as much 
of his attention, as from any man of his 
age in Ohio, and ho is a pronounced taritf 
reformer. In 1884, before the name of 
"trust" was iieard, he predicted, in a 
series of papers, that, fostered by high 
tariff taxes, combinations of capital would 
take place to raise prices of the neces- 
saries of life, to do which they would do- 
crease production, and consequently de- 
crease the amount of work and the wages 
of the toilers. He is a great admirer of 
Ex-President Cleveland for the exhibition 
of his courage seen in his message wliicii 
called the public attention officially to 
the evils of the combinations which he 
bad predicted were the natural outgrowth 
of high tariff, and, in IS88, he took a prom- 
inent part in the tariff discussion, making 
thirty-six S|)eeches, and having twice as 
many calls whicii he could not fill. He 



598 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



recocruizes that the economic question 
involved in the tariff, with its kindred 
growth, the trust, is the greatest danger 
now threatening the toiling people, and that 
to deal with the subject properly the peo- 
ple are called upon, for their own preser- 
vation, to bring to the front, and especially 
to the halls of Congress, men of the high- 
est ability, together with unflinching 
courage. 

The judge is still a young man, and, 
in the years that lie ahead of him, is des- 
tined, if the people realize their own best 
interests, to have a still firmer hold on 
the hearts of the people than he already 
enjoys, and the ambitions of liis youth 
ma}' be far excelled in the realities of the 
future. 




RS. NANCY J. YARNELL is a 
native of Wayne County, Ohio, 
-^ born in Plain Township, a daugh- 
ter of Joseph B. and Catherine 
(Shelly) Springer, and granddaughter of 
Jacob Shelly. Her parents came to 
Wayne County from Pennsylvania in 
1832, and became identified with all the 
material interests of the county. The 
mother died in 1874, and the father in 
1879, aged sixty-seven years. They had 
a family of seven children, but two of 
whom, Ellen (now Mrs. William Myers, 



of Plain Township) and Mrs. Yarnell are 
residents of Wayne County. One son, 
Benjamin, is deceased, and a sou of Mrs. 
Springer by a former marriage, Jacob 
Miller, Jr., is al.^6 deceased. 

Nancy J. Springer remained with her 
parents until l>!tJ4, when she was married 
to Cyrus Yarnell, a native of Wayne 
County, son of Samuel and Elizabeth 
Yarnell. After their marriage the young 
couple removed to Missouri, where they 
lived until 1880, when Mr. Yarnell died, 
aged forty-five years. Mrs. Yarnell then 
returned to her native home, and has 
since lived in Wooster Township. She 
has had a family of five children, viz.: 
Joseph H. (deceased), Samuel, William 
(deceased), Catherine Ellen and one who 
died in infancy. 



THOMAS POAVER was born in 
Washington County, Penu., Decem- 
ber 31, 1807, and died in Wooster, 
' Ohio, July 15, 1881. In 1818 his 
father, Neal Power, with his familj', set- 
tled on a farm in Wayne County, about 
two and one-half miles south of Wooster. 
In 1828 the subject of this sketch, then 
twenty-cue j-ears of age, began what 
proved to be a long business career, en- 
tering the emploj- of J. R. Church, whose 
store-room adjoined the court-bouse. Soon 



after commencing his work tlie court- 
house ami all the surrounilinujs were de- 
stroyed by fire, ami lie then accepted a 
position with Lake k Hand, and later 
with J. & D. Jones, dry goods merchants, 
of which latter firm he soon became a 
member. The firm afterward changed to 
T. & S. Power, who did business a num- 
ber of years. Subsequently Mr. Power 
engaged alone in the clothing business 
for years, being later on and up to the 
time of his death associated with his son, 
Perry J. Power, in the same business. 

On November 19, 1835, Thomas Power 
was unitetl in marriage with Belinda, 
daughter of Matthew Johnson, Sr., an old 
])ioneer. Three children were born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Power: Perry J., and two others 
wlio died in infancy. Mr. Power was 
actively engaged in business in Wooster 
for fifty-two years, and, through all the 
fluctuations and adversities experienced 
ill a business career of all those years, be 
remained the same modest, generous, up- 
riglit citizen. He was n man of exemjjla- 
rv life, iienerous to friends, a devoted 
liusbaud and father, a standi friend and 
a good citizen. , 

His wife was boin at Little Beaver, 
Columbiana Co., Ohin. January 2S, 1815, 
and died October 15, 1882. Her father, 
Matthew Jolinson, Sr., well known to 
Wooster's oKlest residents, was a captain 
in the War of 1812, serving under Gen. 



Harrison. On liis way with his company 
to Fort Meigs lie was so pleased with the 
place that at the close of the war he 
bought property in Wooster, and with his 
wife and family of eight children — John 
S., Matthew, James, Belinda, Elias, Will- 
iam, Perry and Reasiii — (all of whom 
have passed away) moved to Wooster in 
1817. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were the 
early founders of the olil Seceder Churcli 
at AVooster, and were identified with all 
the early reminiscences of the place. Mr. 
Johnson served in several oflices, as presi- 
dent of the town council, sheriff of Wayne 
County, etc. He died June 17, 1858. 
His wife, Mrs. Sarah Johnson, survived 
him many years. She was a woman of 
great excellence of character, and was \w- 
loved by all who knew her. She lived 
with Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Power a quar- 
ter of a century after the death of her 
husband and until the time of her death, 
in 1877. Mrs. Power, her daughter, was 
a lovely and inestimable woman, possess- 
ing many virtues. She was not only the 
most respected but one of Wooster's old- 
est residents, having lived here since 
1817, a period of sixty-five years. Her 
house was the welcome home of relatives 
and friends. Mr. and Mrs. Power were 
faithful members of the Episcopal Churcli. 
They had sliared each other's joys and .sor- 
rows for forty-five years. Mrs. Power 
survived her liuslwnd oniv a sliorf time. 



600 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



for, ou October 15 of the year following 
his decease, she was carried to her last 
restiug place. 

Their son, Perrj' J., who is well and fa- 
vorably known, was born in Wooster, Ohio, 
was educated in the public schools, com- 
menced his business career as deputy 
postmaster (James Johnson being post- 
master) under President Buchanan, and 
afterward continued as deputy postmaster 
two years with Enos Foreman, postmaster 
under President Lincoln; afterward he 
sold dry goods for two years with his 
uncles, J. B. and N. Power. In the year 
1S66 he engaged as merchant in the cloth- 
iug business, in which he continued until 
1886. He was married in 1883 to Miss 
Mary D. Woods, of Baltimore. With his 
wife and family lie removed, in 1886, to 
Chicago, 111., where he is engaged in the 
insurance business. 



JACOB DURSTINE, junior member 
of the firm of Hartman & Diirstine, 
--' lumber merchants and manufactur- 
ers of building supplies, in Wooster, 
Wayne Co., Ohio, was born in Westmore- 
land County, Peun., October 22, 1823. 
His paternal ancestry, supposed origi- 
nally to have been Germans, were driven 
by the tide of war, in the fifteenth century, 
to the French border, settling in Alsace, 



where their first authentic history be- 
gins. Here they lived many years, sub- 
ject to all the vicissitudes of the wars of 
the sixteenth century; espousing the 
cause of the Huguenots and sharing their 
fate; enduring the horrors of the Catho- 
lic and other disturbances under the reign 
of Louis XIII, and sharing the misfor- 
tunes of the early Protestants under Cath- 
olic political outrages, until finally, during 
the reign of Louis XIV, Avheu Protestant- 
ism had seemingly received its final over- 
throw in Alsace, and it became unsafe 
longer to acknowledge their religious be- 
lief, they sought relief from Catholic in- 
tolerance and oppression, and with others, 
emigrated to the New World, where they 
hoped to be able to worship God accord- 
ing to the dictates of their own con- 
science. 

Arriving in America about the year 
1660 — twenty years before the treaty of 
William Penn — they located in what is 
now known as Berks County, Penn., and 
gave at once the name of their old home, 
Alsace, to their new one, as a guide for 
those who might follow, which title is 
still retained as the name of a township 
in Berks County, which they originally 
settled. Here they planted a colony, and 
so far as possible established friendly re- 
lations with the Indians, acting only on 
the defensive in self-protection. This 
policy, added to their strong Protestant 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



OUl 



Hiul religious convictions, ))rouglit them 
into close relations with William Penn, 
and aided materially in shaping and carry- 
ing into successful operation Peuu's cele- 
hiated treaty with the Indians in 1682, 
which transformed a savage wilderness 
into a great pacific commonwealth, with- 
out bloodshed. Several generations of 
the Durstine family here grew to matur- 
ity, and settled in various parts of the 
Colonies and Canada, the name in some 
instances being slightly changed, that of 
Hannah Dustau, the heroine of Haverhill. 
Mass.. being a familiar example. 

During the Revolutionary period, one 
of the Durstiues acted as a mail car- 
rier and special messenger, in the interest 
of the Colonial Government, and at the 
age of one hundred and five years walked 
twenty miles in a single day, through 
forest and over mountains, carrying an im- 
portant message to General Washington, 
and was a hale old man until his death, 
which occurred at the unusual age of one 
hundred and twenty years. One of the 
great-grandsons of tiiis old veteran was 
the grandfather of the subject of this 
biographical memoir. He moved to West- 
moreland County, Penn.. about the year 
1800, and settled on a farm some dis- 
tance east of Pittsburgh, when, asa village, 
it boasted of a population of only 1,500 
people. The only public conveyance of 
products and merchandise at tiiis time 



was by teams, and between seed time and 
harvest he became a public teamster over 
the mountains between Pittsburgh and 
Philadelphia. At one time he was en- 
trusted by the Government with a sis- 
horse wagon-load of money from the 
United States Bank and Mint at Philadel- 
phia, which he carried secretly to the 
mountains for safety from the invading 
enemy in the War of 1812. Unlike 
some modern custodians of public funds, 
he did not "skip to Canada," but after the 
danger was over he returned the money 
in safety to the Government, receiving a 
receipt and letters of commendation 
which are yet preserved by the family. 

He reared a family of nine children, 
one of whom, Abraham, at the age of 
twenty-two years, married Miss Catherine 
Sherrick, of Fayette County, Penn., by 
whom he had six children, three daugh- 
ters who died young, and three sons who 
grew to maturity: Jacob, John and 
Abraham, Jr., Jacob being the subject 
proper of this sketcli. 

At the age of two and a lialf years 
Jacob was brought to Ohio by his parents, 
who moved by the overland route in 
covered wagons in 1825, and settled on a 
tract of unbroken forest land at the junc- 
tion of Wayne, Holmes and Stark Coun- 
ties, on the banks of a pleasant stream, 
which, from its many adjacent sugar and 
maple trees, was named Sugar Creek. 



002 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Here they began at once to establish a 
home out of the wilderness. They lived 
in the primitive style of pioneer life and, 
as the family grew, gradually brought the 
forest under subjection, stoutly contested 
by the Indians and wild beasts of the 
neighborhood. Game was plentiful, 
droves of deer coming within a few rods 
of the door. Wild turkeys and wild In- 
dians vied with each other in making 
tempting cries, to allure the young pion- 
eers to the hunt, but they were kept busy 
on the farm, as they were obliged to raise 
all necessaries, except what little they 
occasionally got in exchange by selling 
wheat at thirty cents a bushel, which 
they were obliged to take twenty or 
thirty miles to market. Luxuries they 
had none; coffee, tea and store clothes 
were almost unknown ; stoves were a great 
rarity ; all fires for cooking and heating 
purposes were made in large deep fire- 
places, with backlogs drawn in by horses 
to keep up the fires during the long, 
tedious winters. They raised their own 
flax and wool, and spun and wove all their 
garments by the slow pioneer processes. 
There were no public schools at that time, 
and the educational advantages of Jacob 
Durstine were very limited, his boyhood 
days for the most part being spent in the 
labors of the farm; nevertheless bj- a few 
months' attendance at a subscription 
school taught by his father (at the re- 



quest of the early settlers), and later by 
a few months' at the first public school, 
he acquired sufficient education to enable 
him to teach in the early public schools 
of that section. Arriving at the age of 
manhood, he commenced for himself on a 
leased farm in Wayne County, adjacent to 
his father's. 

At the age of twenty-three he married 
Miss Mary Ann Hartman, sister of his 
present partner, a native of Cumberland 
County, Penu , and daughter of Rev. Peter 
and Elizabeth Hartman, who had moved 
to Wayne County, Ohio, in 1830. Three 
years later Mr. Durstine bargained for 
the old homestead in Sugar Creek, to 
which he moved, and here remained un- 
til some of the children born to this union 
were of such an age that better school 
facilities were desirable. He then sold 
the old homestead farm and bought anoth- 
er near Wooster, whither he moved in 
the spring of 1867. Here he devoted his 
time to the management and improvement 
of his farm, at the same time affording 
opportunities for the education of his 
children, of whom there were five. In 
1876 he abandoned agricultural pursuits, 
and, renting his farm, came to Wooster, 
where he embarked in the lumber busi- 
ness, the firm of Hartman & Durstine 
being established that year. Two years 
later he purchased a home on Beall Av- 
enue, where he now resides. 



WAIWE COUNTY. 



t)03 



The children completed uuiversity 
courses, and are now nearly all married 
and settled elsewhere. Their record is as 
follows: Frank H., the eldest, married to 
Miss Mary Heuion, of Ann Arbor, Mich., 
is a practicing physician in Cleveland, 
Ohio; Lee B., married to Miss Kate 
Sarles, of Boscobel, Wis., is general man- 
ager of the Equitable Life Insurance 
Company, at Des Moines, Iowa; Alice E. 
is married to Rev. F. N. Riale, Ph.. D., 
who has a pastorate in Independence, 
Iowa; Harvey Wilton died in infancy; 
Clara B., the youngest, is the only one of 
the childi'eu remaining at home. 

Jacob Durstine has never taken a 
very active part in politics, but has always 
done his duty at the polls. His first vote 
was cast for Henry Clay, Whig candidate 
for President in 1844. He supported the 
Whig party until 1856, when the better 
class of Whigs and Democrats united to 
form the Republican party, with whicli 
he has ever since allied himself. During 
the War of the Rebellion, on account of 
physical disability, he was exempt from 
all active service, but he nevertheless took 
an active part, financially and otherwise, 
in assisting and encouraging the rais- 
ing of volunteers, and gathering and 



shipping commissary stores to the front, 
his wife being [)resident of the Auxiliary 
Aid Society, organized to send supplies 
to the soldiers on the field and in hos- 
pitals. 

Mr. Durstine has always been active in 
all educational and religious enterprises, 
giving liberally toward i>enevolent ob- 
jects. He served for years as president 
and clerk of the township Board of Edu- 
cation; he organized the first Sabbath- 
school ever held in his section, and wa.s 
for years its only superintendent. From 
his boyhood he has borne a strong Chris- 
tian character, the foundation of which 
dates back to the use of the Bible as his 
school reader, and he has ever since been 
a close and thorough Bible student. He 
has occupied every office in Church rela- 
tions possible for a layman to fill ; for 
many years he was a prominent member 
of what is known as The Church of God, 
or Winebrennei-ian, and spent much time 
and money in building up that denomina- 
tion, holding for some years the treasurer- 
ship of the board of missions of that 
body. Recently he united with the Beth- 
any Baptist Church of Wooster, of which 
he is now one of the officers, and an active, 
earnest and influential member. 



INDEX 



I'VOK. 

Adiiir, AiuUtm>u 410 

Ailaiiis. John Q -VM 

Arinstroni;, Ciilvin 33S 

Armslroiiir, Thomas....... SSH 

Ariiistnin!;. William V 477 

Ashenhurst, W. Jay mt 

Aiikrrmaii. Christopher 426 

Ayls« ortli, Warreu 15U 

Baird, Jerome T 38it 

Baker, Harry E Mi 

Baker. Yost S .MHl 

Baliiicr, Christian M S« 

Banker, W. II .503 

Barnes. Robert. •i!H) 

Barns, William P 171 

Barrett, Dr. Joseph E 230 

Bartol, George 134 

Battles, W. S.. M. D 272 

Bau^'hman, Hon. JohnW 223 

Banni, Henry 71 

Bauniirarilner, Thomas P 143 

Beall, Gen. Keasiu 1«1 

Beehtel, David W 244 

Bechtel, Isaae 240 

Beehtel, Mrs. Jam- 288 

Bechtel, John 288 

Bissell, Harvey Howard 544 

Bissell, John Sloane .54<i 

Bixler, Henry 282 

Blackstone, .\ndrew J 40 

Blaekwood, John 38:1 

Blaekwood, William 382 

Blanehard, I). A l:e 

Blandford, George W 3*B 

Bonewitz, J. A 3.'jO 

Bonewitz, Solomon R .53 

Bownnm, Cyrns 230 

i?o«nian, Leonard R 180 

Boyd, S. H 247 

Boydston, Charles 3(H 

Brenneman, Christian B 44<1 

Brenner, Adam 107 

Brenner, Bi'njamin l.s.5 

BrinkerholT, Hon. John 217 

BriukerholY, J . W., M. I) .15.5 

Briton, James F IH) 

Brown, E. A 24 



I'.VOB. 

Brown Family 487 

Brown, John 407 

Brown, Ralston B 496 

Brown, Stephen 497 

Brown, Thomas Aslibey 495 

Brown, William W 484 

Brnee, James A 398 

Buelianan, Georse Ramsey 412 

Buehanan, Jolju W., M. U 412 

BHelier,S, D 445 

Bnrns, Edmin Xi\ I 

Byall, Isaiah 5ti5 | 

Campbell, Alexander, Jr 433 

Caskey, Georjre 4;J4 I 

Caskey, John S 113 

Chatelain, Ulysses 357 | 

Christy, S. W 386 

Clemens, Capt. Horace N 462 

Coekrell, John 391 

Coe, James F 571 

Connelly, Eber B 522 

Cook, David C 525 

Cornell, Lorenzo D 144 

Cotlerman, Michael 137 

Craven, Samnel C 562 

Criswell, James F 16 

Crosby, John B 49 

Culler, Michael .568 

Cully, Samuel 115 

Curry it Co., D. C .552 

Curry, D. C 554 

Curry, James .5.53 

Curry, Jerome ,5.55 

Cusiek, Patrick 421 | 

Dasfue, J. Wilson 207 ] 

Dague, William Carman 198 1 

Daniels, Levi 416 , 

Davidson, Joseph 300 

Dawson, Dr.- Norman B .528 | 

Derr, Dr. William F ,5.58 

Dickey. Chas. B 103 

Dodez, Louis l.SO 

Douglass, Benjamin 351 

Douglass, Isaac B 145 I 

Dowell, Judge Edward S :M3 ' 

Dowell, Thomas 344 [ 

Dursline, .l.i.-..i> 000 i 



1-A(.I . 

Dursline, John 320 

Dyer, John A 68 

Ebright, Abram B 167 

Ebright, G. J 173 

Ebright, John D 16(i 

Eby, Christian .587 

Eichar, Josejih 273 

Eley, John 405 

Elliott, John 44:< 

Elliott, Rev. John C 498 

Emery, George 283 

Emrich, Capt. G. P 178 

Enfield, W. S 531 

Eshelman, E. B 216 

Evey, John 2.S9 

Ewing, Robert 3m 

Fecinan, Mrs. Catherine 339 

Feemau, John 3.3it 

Fcighlner, Samuel 393 

Ferguson, Thomas 170 

Ferrell, J. NeUou ,569 

Fertig, Michael ,534 

Fike Family 167 

Fike, George A 169 

Fike, William A 16h 

Firestone, David R 425 

Firestone, Leander, M. D 358 

Firestone, Solomon S 70 

Fluhart, A. R .53 

Kluhart, .lames ,50"* 

Fogelson, David .591 

Forrer, John .527 

Frank, Samuel 297 

Franks, Abrani 199 

Franks, Jacob B .525 

Franks, L. K 199 

Franks, Peter 15 

Frasc, Samuel 5.'is 

Krnzler, John .5.56 

Freet, Ellas A 51 

Fresh, George 416 

Frick, Jacob U 

Frick, JohnW lOO 

Frilz, Oustavun C 1'"' 

Fryer, Sidm-y J 61 

Fnnck, Daniel 2IM 

Fuuck, John 2o:i 



em 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Funk, America 215 

Funk, Mrs , Hannah 2U 

Funk, Joseph A 105 

Funk, Zenas 397 

Gann, Dr. ,Tohu A 60 

Gasche, Charles 4.58 , 

Gearhart, William 135 

Geiselman, Edward 304 i 

Georirc. William Emmett 271 

Glessner, Alfred C .557 

Good, D. B 379 

Graber, Luoien .532 

Grady, Israel 321 

Grady, John 3U9 and 331 

Grady, Miss Sarah 300 

Grant, Edward M 259 

GraTatt, H. P 19 

Gray, James L 476 

Greely, Allen, Jr 138 

Greenamyer, Peter S., M. D.... 266 

Griffith, O. K 82 

Grosjean, Eugene .58 

Hague. Isaac H., M. D 159 

Hamilton, James A 326 

Hammer, Jacob J .399 

Hard, Curtis V .375 j 

Harding, Fred. II 343 

Harkins, William 423 

Harry, W. H .557 

Hart, Hugh A.. M. D 32 

Hartman, E. D 564 

Hatfield, George D 200 

Hawk, Dr. David 95 

Heller, Daniel 438 

Hcrshey, Abraham 330 

Hershey, Abram 403 

Hess, Jacob 97 

Hileman, H. E 5.32 

Hindman, John 160 

Hinish, George 501 

Hoegner, Frederick .340 

Hoffman, Daniel T .3.56 

Hoffman, Jacob 401 

Holmes, Jacob 190 

Hoover, Henry B 236 

Horn, John B 301 

Horn, P. L 399 

Hoy, Dr. Benjamin F 169 

Huffman, Abram F 292 

n uffman, Daniel V 132 

Huffman, Sherman J 307 

Huffman, Wesley A .539 

Hunt, Abram Huffman, M. D,. 93 

Hunter, Joseph 543 

lluntsberger, Jacob 407 

Ihrig. Marion B 234 



P.4GE. 

Jackson, Mrs. Anna 328 

Jackson, Robert R iOS 

James, David 355 

James, John S 43 

Jameson, Isaac K 275 

Jeffery, James 127 

Jennings. Heurj' 275 

Johnson, Adam Forest 4.55 

Johnson. J. R 428 

Johnson, Matthew .593 

Johnson, Sinclair 374 

Johnson, Solomon H 25 

Jones, Quinby 287 

Kauke, John H Ill 

Kean. D. C 469 

Keau, W. F 470 

Keeling, Edward F 517 

Keppel. Geo. H 88 

Kerr, Russell E Ill 

Keslar, Jacob H ,573 

Keys, James Baker 260 

Kicffer, D. L 370 

King, Solomon R 302 

Kiplinger, J. W 155 

Kissinger, Jacob 297 

Kramer, Jacob, Jr 439 

Krysher, Theodore A 471 

Lance, Abraham 20 

Lauee, William J 61' 

Landis, David Y 4.54 

Landis, W. Y 293 

Laugcll, Daniel 67 

Laubach, George R 280 

Lawrence, George 219 

Leathermau, Jacob 98 

Lehman, David 376 

Lehman, Ephraim 220 

Lehman, John 230 

Lehman, Simon 476 

Lehr, Dr. J. W .539 

Lerch, Charles A., M. D 457 

Lessiter, C. W 343 

Liggett, D. Q 165 

Littell, Dr. G. W 93 

Little, Francis .573 

Long, John, Jr 316 

Longanecker, John .503 

Lovett, Zcphaniah 294 

Lucas, Josiah 238 

Lucas. Robert Emmet 280 

McAffee, Robert E .535 

McBride, John K 460 

McBridc. Mrs. M. J 460 

McClarran, DeWitt Clinton 378 

McClarren, Harry 94 

McClellan, John 334 



IMGE. 

McClure, Addison S 208 

McClure, Charles W 262 

McCIure, Matthew .574 

McClure, Wilbur D 2.55 

McConkey, Mahaleth 540 

MeConkey, Thonuis .540 

MeCormish, Charles 42'» 

McDonald, Joseph B 441 

McDowell, David 55 

McElhenie, J. V 310 

McElhenie, Thomas 310 

McFadden, Albert 72 

McQuigg, John 577 

McQuigg, Samuel 427 

McVicker, John W 76 

Mackey , Albert B 153 

Mackey, John 1.54 

Maize. Horace A 5,89 

Maize, Jeremiah .588 

if aize. Mrs. Mary .588 

Major, Robert S 329 

Marklcy, Philip 443 

Marshall, Henry 4S 

Martin, Daniel C 89 — 

Martin, James.- 323 — 

Martin. John H 33 

Mathes, (Jeorge 162 

Merz, Karl 4f'3 

■Messmore, Harvey R 117 

Milbourn, Andrew 241 

Miller, Albert 283 ' 

Miller, Capt. Benjamin F .536 - 

Miller, C.J 1.53'^ 

Miller Family 122 ' 

Miller, Isaac 4.54"^ 

Miller, Jacob 132 ■ 

Miller, Jacob A 134 " 

Miller, John W 123 

Miller, Joseph .540-' 

Miller. Michael 238 

Miller, Samuel Harrison 69 

Miller. William 404 

Mitchell. Capt. David .533 

Mitchell, Samuel 257 

Mongcy, Jacob 215 

Moore, Andrew, Jr 400 — 

Morrett. Moses IM 

Mowery, A. F., M. D 68 

Mowery, John .517 

Mowery. Nathaniel .5:^6 

Mowrer, John 405 

Munson, Henry 4M 

Munson, Isaac A 17 

Musser, William 3^ 

Myers, John 314 

Myers, Mrs. Mary Jane. 313 



JXDEX. 



007 



I'AGi:. 

Niiflzijir, .Iiuoli 537 

NaftZifcr. .U-ri-iiiiali R 3H» 

Siwkirk. H. M IIB 

NcM kirk. Isuac 116 

Xici-. David 213 

NoUl. Wllllain 5iK) 

OliiTliii, Andrew 38ft 

Od.ll, Jiiliii B Ml 

• (irdiii, Silas \V -'m 

((111. A. M M 

< HiliiTir, TAWis P 444 

< )rr, Robi-rl SOS 

Ott. tieorge 411 

Palmer. Janus M., M. D 20 

Palmer, Prof. Philip C 22 

Parrisli, A. M 113 

Heikinpaiisrli. Thomas Edson. . . 146 

Pfeiffir, Philip 1T2 

I'inkertou, J. B S7 

Pinkerlon. Hiihard A'an Buren. 12!t 

Plank. SohHiion K I.tO 

Pla-terir, Henry H 2flS 

Plnmer, J. C 24« 

P.Hoek, Kli Dndley, M. D 2«3 

Polloek, Thomas C .Tti7 

Pope, Rer. Benjamin .580 

Pojie, F. F. H., M. I) .578 

Power. Thomas .5!t» 

Ramsey, James .561 

Hutli, William D 4m> 

liathliun, William A 5111 

I'.iiyl, Romeo A 4!I0 

Kediek, Riehard Parker 474 

Reiehard, Daniel 403 

Reiehard. Harriet 403 

Riee, Frederiek 4.51/ 

Riehwine, Georife W 320 

Kiekel. (J. W 191 

Ries, Fred Ill) 

Roliisou, Dr. James D 44 

Roliisou, John .520 

Rolils<in, M. S 52(1 

Rose, James 4:J8 

Ross, Gcortre W 48 

Roth. Thomas 404 

Riilthans. F.mil 237 

R.imh, William 357 

Rndy, Levi 4:1 

■Rue).f8e;;);er, Nicholas ill 

Rnirtrhs, Dr. J. H 516 

Rumhauirh. S^olomon 184 

Saltsman, John K 51fl 

Sands, John W 434 

Sanrcr, Sanniel 71 

.Srhaaf, Ad.d|di K 448 

.-..liiiMf FiIhmiiI :f.i 



PAGE 

SehaffltT, Florian IW . 

Sehniiiek, Jaeoh 452 ! 

t^ehniiu'k, Samuel 55 | 

.Sehroek, Rev. Klias 462 

Sehnch, Joseph A 37 I 

Sehnltz, Adam D 515 | 

Selniltz, Nicholas Xii' 

Scott, Walton C 94 j 

Scott, William 21 

Scovel, Sylvester F 96 I 

Searijfht, Gilbert 456 \ 

Selherlinir, James H I>2 j 

Seniple, Rev. Philo M 1»2 ; 

Shelly. Jacob :J4!I 

Shelly, Michael 512 

Sherriik, Jacob B 408 

Sherri<k, Pelcr 435 ' 

Shibley, William 37a ; 

Shillin:;. Frank 37!i 

Shilling;. John 363 

Shilllni,'. S. S 182 

Shisler, Emannel C 562 

Shivcly, A. R 461 

Shively, Mrs. .Martha A 461 

Shoemaker. William 4iiO 

Shreve, Henry 284 

Shrevc, Thomas 384 

Siehley, Rev. F.lias 479 

Sicbley, Hiram F. 8 481 

Siehley. William H. U 47/ 

Sidle, James C 22!t 

Sidle. JohnC VM 

Sieijenthaler, ticori^e B 237 

Slemmons, David I 37 

Sloane. Hon. John 549 

Smith, David N 858 

Smith, William H 171 

Smith, William X 575 

5»noker, Gideon 18<! 

Smyser, I. 300 

Smyser, .M . 1 50 

Suell, Eli 131 

Snyder, Elias 430 

Snyder, Frank 245 

Snyder. James Q 421 

Snyder, John Xil 

Snyder, J. B 500 

Snyder, Lewis 380 

Snyder, .Samuel 75 

Spangler, Wesley 133 

Staeher, Lewis 168 

.Stair, Peter 118 

Slamni, Albert 34 

Sleiner, John V .50 

Stilwell. Welllnifton .V.H 

M,„bl,ircl O \ , I.I.. D ISO 



PAOR. 

Stone, John E 18 

Slrock, Daniel 41m 

Stroek, George 315 

Swart, t'aspcr L ,..' 154 

Swarlz, Hon. Hiram B 348 

Swartz, Samuel 1.3(1 

Switzer. S. R 397 

TaKifarl, Dr. William W 174 

Taylor. Harvey W 5.38 

Taylor. James B 47« 

Taylor. William B 31.5 

Tea^xle, HenryC 473 

Thomas, David 3.56 

Thomas, Levi ;J90 

Thompson, Robert B 392 

Tiusliinin, Daniels 391 

Todd, Dr. Joe H 210 

Troutman, John Geori^e 419 

Troutman. Philip .576 

Troutman. .Mrs. Pleasant Ann.. 576 

Tyler. William Dexter 464 

Van Houtcu, Elizabeth 141 

Van II(Hiten, Philo S 141 

Van Meter, (.harles E 264 

Van Nest. J. P 7» 

Van Nostran, John 77 

Wachtel.J. R 4.59 

Warner, Joseph 441 

Warner. Joshua 3S7 

Warner, Rosauna 3>»7 

Wasson, R. B 187 

Weaver. Perry 2;-14 

Webb, Henry H 417 

Webb, John 277 

Webb. Mrs. Mary Ann 417 

Webuer. David 103 

Welday, William W 470 

Welker, John f 3-7 

Wclkcr, Martin 2(1 

White, William P 440 

Whitman. John 13 

Whitmore, Samuel 466 

Wiler, William H 229 

Wiles, Albert C .5:11 

Willaman. E. P 51.5 

Wilson. Benjamin 4:16 

Wilson, William 6.5 

Wilson, William R 527 

Winebrcnner, Calvin G 40'.' 

Winehrcnner, Mrs, Harriet 4i'.' 

Wrlifht, .\uthouy i'.' 

Yarni-11, Cyrus .V.'s 

Yornell. Mrs. Naney J .59- 

Yarnell. Perry 42:1 

Yoder, Joash 106 

Yod. r. Rev. John K .56 



608 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Yoder, John M 393 

Yoder, Jouathan S 529 j Zaring, James L 53 

Younff, Wendell 303 ! Zimmerman, John Edwin 35 



PAGE. I PAGE. 
Zaring, Eli 14 Zimmerman, Samuel .5(53 



Zook, J. D 136 

Zuver, Alvi 3sJ 



PORTRAITS. 



Aylswortli, Warren 157 

Barrett, Joseph E., M. D 331 

Boydston, Charles 305 

Brown, William W 485 

Buchanan, G. R 413 

Connelly, E. B 533 

Derr, Dr. W. F 559 

Dowell, E. S 343 

Ewing, Kohert 395 

Firestone, Leander, M. D 359 

Frick, Jacob 10 



Griffith, O. K 83 

Lehman, David, Sr 377 

Lehman, Ephraim 331 

Longanecker, John 503 

Lovett, Z 395 

McConkey, Thomas 541 

McFadden, Albert 73 

Martin, James, M. D 323 

Peekiupaugh. T. E 147 

Kobison, James D., M. D 45 

Schaaf, A. K 449 



Friek. John W 101 ] Semple, Rev. Philo M 193 

Greenamyer, P. S., M. D 267 | Shelly, Michael 513 



Shoemaker, William 431 

Shreve, Henry 285 

Stair, Peter 119 

Stilwell, Wellington 595 

Swartz, Hiram B 349 

Swartz, Samuel 137 

Taggart, William W., M. D 175 

Todd, Joe H., M. D 211 

Welker, Martin 27 

Whitmore, Samuel 467 

Wright, Anthony 63 




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